List of Doctor Who episodes (1963–1989)

This article is about the 1963–1989 episodes and 1996 film. For the episodes starting from 2005, see List of Doctor Who episodes (2005–present).

Doctor Who is a British science fiction television programme produced by the BBC. As of 23 October 2022, 826 episodes of Doctor Who have aired, concluding the thirteenth series. This includes one television movie and multiple specials, and encompasses 263 stories over 39 seasons, starting in 1963. Additionally, four charity specials and two animated serials have also been aired. The programme's high episode count has resulted in Doctor Who holding the world record for the highest number of episodes of a science-fiction programme.

Doctor Who ceased production in 1989. A one-off TV movie was produced in the US in 1996, then the series resumed in 2005. The original series (1963–1989), generally consists of multi-episode serials; in the early seasons, and occasionally through its run, serials tend to link together, one story leading directly into the next. The 2005 revival trades the earlier serial format for a run of self-contained episodes, interspersed with occasional multi-part stories and structured into loose story arcs.

For the first two seasons of Doctor Who and most of the third (1963–1966), each episode carries its own title; the show displays no titles for overarching serials until The Savages, at which point the episodic titles cease. The titles below, for these early serials, are those in most common circulation, used for commercial releases and in resources such as the Doctor Who Reference Guide and the BBC's classic episode guide. With the show's revival in 2005, the programme returned to individual episode titles.

Due to the BBC's 1970s junking policy, 97 episodes of Doctor Who from the 1960s are no longer known to exist. As a result, 26 serials are currently incomplete, with one or more episodes represented only by audio, which in many cases is in addition to clips or still frames. For commercial release, some episodes have been reconstructed using off-air audio recordings, paired to surviving visuals or newly commissioned animation.

The story numbers below are meant as a guide to placement in the overall context of the programme. There is some dispute, for instance, about whether to count Season 23's The Trial of a Time Lord as one or as four serials, and whether the unfinished serial Shada should be included. The numbering scheme in this list follows the official website's episode guide. Other sources, such as the Region 1 classic Doctor Who DVD releases, use different numbering schemes, which diverge after the 108th story, The Horns of Nimon (1979–1980).

Series overview

The following table dictates the season or series in question for the programme as a whole.

Regular seasons

Season		Episodes	Originally aired
			First aired	Last aired	Average viewers (millions)	Average AI
	1	42	23 November 1963 (1963-11-23)	12 September 1964 (1964-09-12)
	2	39	31 October 1964 (1964-10-31)	24 July 1965 (1965-07-24)
	3	45	11 September 1965 (1965-09-11)	16 July 1966 (1966-07-16)
	4	43	10 September 1966 (1966-09-10)	1 July 1967 (1967-07-01)
	5	40	2 September 1967 (1967-09-02)	1 June 1968 (1968-06-01)
	6	44	10 August 1968 (1968-08-10)	21 June 1969 (1969-06-21)
	7	25	3 January 1970 (1970-01-03)	20 June 1970 (1970-06-20)
	8	25	2 January 1971 (1971-01-02)	19 June 1971 (1971-06-19)
	9	26	1 January 1972 (1972-01-01)	24 June 1972 (1972-06-24)
	10	26	30 December 1972 (1972-12-30)	23 June 1973 (1973-06-23)
	11	26	15 December 1973 (1973-12-15)	8 June 1974 (1974-06-08)
	12	20	28 December 1974 (1974-12-28)	10 May 1975 (1975-05-10)
	13	26	30 August 1975 (1975-08-30)	6 March 1976 (1976-03-06)
	14	26	4 September 1976 (1976-09-04)	2 April 1977 (1977-04-02)
	15	26	3 September 1977 (1977-09-03)	11 March 1978 (1978-03-11)
	16	26	2 September 1978 (1978-09-02)	24 February 1979 (1979-02-24)
	17	20	1 September 1979 (1979-09-01)	12 January 1980 (1980-01-12)
	18	28	30 August 1980 (1980-08-30)	21 March 1981 (1981-03-21)
	19	26	4 January 1982 (1982-01-04)	30 March 1982 (1982-03-30)
	20	22	3 January 1983 (1983-01-03)	16 March 1983 (1983-03-16)
	21	24	5 January 1984 (1984-01-05)	30 March 1984 (1984-03-30)
	22	13	5 January 1985 (1985-01-05)	30 March 1985 (1985-03-30)
	23	14	6 September 1986 (1986-09-06)	6 December 1986 (1986-12-06)
	24	14	7 September 1987 (1987-09-07)	7 December 1987 (1987-12-07)
	25	14	5 October 1988 (1988-10-05)	4 January 1989 (1989-01-04)
	26	14	6 September 1989 (1989-09-06)	6 December 1989 (1989-12-06)
	27	13	26 March 2005 (2005-03-26)	18 June 2005 (2005-06-18)
	28	13	15 April 2006 (2006-04-15)	8 July 2006 (2006-07-08)
	29	13	31 March 2007 (2007-03-31)	30 June 2007 (2007-06-30)
	30	13	5 April 2008 (2008-04-05)	5 July 2008 (2008-07-05)
	31	13	3 April 2010 (2010-04-03)	26 June 2010 (2010-06-26)
	32	13	23 April 2011 (2011-04-23)	1 October 2011 (2011-10-01)
	33	13	1 September 2012 (2012-09-01)	18 May 2013 (2013-05-18)
	34	12	23 August 2014 (2014-08-23)	8 November 2014 (2014-11-08)
	35	12	19 September 2015 (2015-09-19)	5 December 2015 (2015-12-05)
	36	12	15 April 2017 (2017-04-15)	1 July 2017 (2017-07-01)
	37	10	7 October 2018 (2018-10-07)	9 December 2018 (2018-12-09)
	38	10	1 January 2020 (2020-01-01)	1 March 2020 (2020-03-01)
	39	6	31 October 2021 (2021-10-31)	5 December 2021 (2021-12-05)
	40	8	2024 (2024)	TBA

Specials

Season		Episodes	Originally aired
Average viewers (millions)	Average AI

Episodes

First Doctor

The first incarnation of the Doctor was portrayed by William Hartnell. During Hartnell's tenure, the episodes were a mixture of stories set on Earth of the future with extraterrestrial influence, on alien planets, and in historical events without extraterrestrial influence, such as Marco Polo, one of the lost serials. In his last story, The Tenth Planet, the Doctor gradually grew weaker to the point of collapsing at the end of the fourth episode, leading to his regeneration.

Season 1 (1963–1964)

Main article: Doctor Who (season 1)

Story	Serial	Title	Directed by	Written by	Original air date	Prod. code	UK viewers (millions)	AI
1	1	An Unearthly Child "An Unearthly Child" "The Cave of Skulls" "The Forest of Fear" "The Firemaker"	Waris Hussein	Anthony Coburn	23 November 1963 30 November 1963 7 December 1963 14 December 1963	A	4.4 5.9 6.9 6.4	63 59 56 55
Schoolteachers Ian Chesterton and Barbara Wright are concerned about one of their pupils, Susan Foreman, who seems to have a very alien outlook on England. They have come to her listed address to investigate. They arrive in a junkyard and find a police box, which proves to be no ordinary police box. When Ian and Barbara enter, they discover it to be much bigger on the inside than the outside. In the TARDIS is Susan and her grandfather, the Doctor. Fearing that Barbara and Ian will give away the secret of the TARDIS, he kidnaps them and takes the machine to the Stone Age, where they will have to fight for their lives.
2	2	The Daleks "The Dead Planet" "The Survivors" "The Escape" "The Ambush" "The Expedition" "The Ordeal" "The Rescue"	Richard Martin and Christopher Barry	Terry Nation	21 December 1963 28 December 1963 4 January 1964 11 January 1964 18 January 1964 25 January 1964 1 February 1964	B	6.9 6.4 8.9 9.9 9.9 10.4 10.4	59 58 63 63 63 63 65
The TARDIS lands in a petrified jungle, where they find an advanced city and decide to explore it. Barbara becomes separated from her colleagues, threatened by an unseen creature. Before long, the entire crew is captured by the Daleks, and learn they are in the middle of a war between the Daleks and the Thals.
3	3	The Edge of Destruction "The Edge of Destruction" "The Brink of Disaster"	Richard Martin and Frank Cox	David Whitaker	8 February 1964 15 February 1964	C	10.4 9.9	61 60
The Doctor, while attempting to correct the TARDIS's faulty navigation circuits, causes a small explosion. The Doctor, Barbara, Ian and Susan are all temporarily rendered unconscious. After they awake, Ian and Susan appear to have slight cases of amnesia and everyone begins to act strangely.
4	4	Marco Polo "The Roof of the World" "The Singing Sands" "Five Hundred Eyes" "The Wall of Lies" "Rider from Shang-Tu" "Mighty Kublai Khan" "Assassin at Peking"	Waris Hussein and John Crockett	John Lucarotti	22 February 1964 29 February 1964 7 March 1964 14 March 1964 21 March 1964 28 March 1964 4 April 1964	D	9.4 9.4 9.4 9.9 9.4 8.4 10.4	63 62 62 60 59 59 59
Arriving in Central Asia in 1289, the Doctor, Ian, Barbara and Susan accompany Marco Polo on his journey to mighty Kublai Khan. Witnessing many incredible sights and surviving dangers along the way.
5	5	The Keys of Marinus "The Sea of Death" "The Velvet Web" "The Screaming Jungle" "The Snows of Terror" "Sentence of Death" "The Keys of Marinus"	John Gorrie	Terry Nation	11 April 1964 18 April 1964 25 April 1964 2 May 1964 9 May 1964 16 May 1964	E	9.9 9.4 9.9 10.4 7.9 6.9	62 60 61 60 61 63
After arriving on an island of glass surrounded by a sea of acid, the TARDIS crew are forced to find and retrieve the five keys of Marinus. Each key is scattered across the island and must not come into the wrong hands of the Yartek and Voord Warriors.
6	6	The Aztecs "The Temple of Evil" "The Warriors of Death" "The Bride of Sacrifice" "The Day of Darkness"	John Crockett	John Lucarotti	23 May 1964 30 May 1964 6 June 1964 13 June 1964	F	7.4 7.4 7.9 7.4	62 62 57 58
The TARDIS crew arrive in Mexico in the 15th Century. With the TARDIS trapped in a tomb, Barbara is mistaken for a female reincarnation of the ancient high priest Yetaxa, and assumes her guise and identity. From her new position of power, Barbara sees her chance to bring an end to human sacrifice.
7	7	The Sensorites "Strangers in Space" "The Unwilling Warriors" "Hidden Danger" "A Race Against Death" "Kidnap" "A Desperate Venture"	Mervyn Pinfield and Frank Cox	Peter R. Newman	20 June 1964 27 June 1964 11 July 1964 18 July 1964 25 July 1964 1 August 1964	G	7.9 6.9 7.4 5.5 6.9 6.9	59 59 56 60 57 57
The TARDIS travellers land on a spaceship and find the crew apparently dead. However, other crew members regain consciousness and Ian Chesterton fully revives them. These two tell the travellers that they are on an exploration mission from Earth and are orbiting Sense-Sphere. However, its inhabitants, the Sensorites, refuse to let them leave the orbit.
8	8	The Reign of Terror "A Land of Fear" "Guests of Madame Guillotine" "A Change of Identity" "The Tyrant of France" "A Bargain of Necessity" "Prisoners of Conciergerie"	Henric Hirsch and John Gorrie	Dennis Spooner	8 August 1964 15 August 1964 22 August 1964 29 August 1964 5 September 1964 12 September 1964	H	6.9 6.9 6.9 6.4 6.9 6.4	58 54 55 53 53 55
The Doctor, Ian, Barbara and Susan arrive in what they believe to be England. However, it is soon clear that they have travelled back into Earth history yet again, this time to 18th Century France, during The French Revolution.

^† Episode is missing

Season 2 (1964–1965)

Main article: Doctor Who (season 2)

This season saw the departure of Carole Ann Ford as Susan Foreman in The Dalek Invasion of Earth, replaced by Maureen O'Brien as Vicki in The Rescue. William Russell and Jacqueline Hill also departed their roles as Ian Chesterton and Barbara Wright, respectively, in The Chase, replaced by Peter Purves as Steven Taylor.

Story	Serial	Title	Directed by	Written by	Original air date	Prod. code	UK viewers (millions)	AI
9	1	Planet of Giants "Planet of Giants" "Dangerous Journey" "Crisis"	Mervyn Pinfield and Douglas Camfield	Louis Marks	31 October 1964 7 November 1964 14 November 1964	J	8.4 8.4 8.9	57 58 59
Following a malfunction on the TARDIS console, the Doctor leads his companions Ian, Barbara and Susan to the world beyond. After some deduction, the travellers realise they have arrived on Earth but have shrunk in size to about an inch.
10	2	The Dalek Invasion of Earth "World's End" "The Daleks" "Day of Reckoning" "The End of Tomorrow" "The Waking Ally" "Flashpoint"	Richard Martin	Terry Nation	21 November 1964 28 November 1964 5 December 1964 12 December 1964 19 December 1964 26 December 1964	K	11.4 12.4 11.9 11.9 11.4 12.4	63 59 59 59 58 63
The TARDIS materialises in London only to find it devastated and in ruins. The TARDIS crew discover that they have landed in the 22nd century and the Earth has been invaded by the Daleks.
11	3	The Rescue "The Powerful Enemy" "Desperate Measures"	Christopher Barry	David Whitaker	2 January 1965 9 January 1965	L	12.0 13.0	57 59
The Doctor, Barbara and Ian encounter two survivors of a space crash, Vicki Pallister and Bennett on the planet Dido, who are awaiting a rescue ship, due to arrive in three days time. Vicki and Bennett live in fear of Koquillion, a bipedal inhabitant, which is stalking the area.
12	4	The Romans "The Slave Traders" "All Roads Lead to Rome" "Conspiracy" "Inferno"	Christopher Barry	Dennis Spooner	16 January 1965 23 January 1965 30 January 1965 6 February 1965	M	13.0 11.5 10.0 12.0	53 51 50 50
While enjoying a holiday at a Roman villa in the year 64AD , the Doctor and Vicki decide to visit the city of Rome while Ian and Barbara are kidnapped and sold into slavery.
13	5	The Web Planet "The Web Planet" "The Zarbi" "Escape to Danger" "Crater of Needles" "Invasion" "The Centre"	Richard Martin	Bill Strutton	13 February 1965 20 February 1965 27 February 1965 6 March 1965 13 March 1965 20 March 1965	N	13.5 12.5 12.5 13.0 12.0 11.5	56 53 53 49 48 42
An unknown force pulls the TARDIS off course and onto the planet Vortis. The TARDIS crew find two species, The Zarbi and the Menoptra at battle with each other.
14	6	The Crusade "The Lion" "The Knight of Jaffa" "The Wheel of Fortune" "The Warlords"	Douglas Camfield	David Whitaker	27 March 1965 3 April 1965 10 April 1965 17 April 1965	P	10.5 8.5 9.0 9.5	51 50 49 48
The TARDIS materialises in 12th century Palestine, during the time of the Third Crusade. When the Doctor, Ian, Barbara, and Vicki emerge, they find themselves in the middle of a Saracen ambush.
15	7	The Space Museum "The Space Museum" "The Dimensions of Time" "The Search" "The Final Phase"	Mervyn Pinfield	Glyn Jones	24 April 1965 1 May 1965 8 May 1965 15 May 1965	Q	10.5 9.2 8.5 8.5	61 53 56 49
The TARDIS arrives near a vast Space Museum on the planet Xeros, but has jumped a time-track. The TARDIS crew have a series of bizarre experiences as they venture into the Museum – not least that they see but cannot be seen by the militaristic Moroks who run the museum, or the servile indigenous Xerons who work for them. The crew find the four travellers themselves encased and on display.
16	8	The Chase "The Executioners" "The Death of Time" "Flight Through Eternity" "Journey into Terror" "The Death of Doctor Who" "The Planet of Decision"	Richard Martin and Douglas Camfield	Terry Nation	22 May 1965 29 May 1965 5 June 1965 12 June 1965 19 June 1965 26 June 1965	R	10.0 9.5 9.0 9.5 9.0 9.5	57 56 55 54 56 57
Using a Time-Space Visualiser, The TARDIS crew find that the Daleks now have a time machine, and are pursuing the TARDIS in order to exterminate its crew. This begins a deadly pursuit through time and space, leading to locations, such as the Mary Celeste, the Empire State Building and a haunted house attraction.
17	9	The Time Meddler "The Watcher" "The Meddling Monk" "A Battle of Wits" "Checkmate"	Douglas Camfield	Dennis Spooner	3 July 1965 10 July 1965 17 July 1965 24 July 1965	S	8.9 8.8 7.7 8.3	57 49 53 54
The Doctor and Vicki are amazed to find Steven Taylor aboard the TARDIS, after thinking he perished following their chase from the Daleks. They arrive in 1066 on the coast of Northumbria, and their arrival has been witnessed by a mysterious Monk who is somehow aware of what the TARDIS really is...

^† Episode is missing

Season 3 (1965–1966)

Main article: Doctor Who (season 3)

O'Brien departed the role of Vicki in The Myth Makers, replaced by Jackie Lane as Dodo Chaplet. The Savages marked the final appearance of Steven, and The War Machines introduced companions Ben and Polly. The practice of giving each individual episode a different title was abandoned after The Gunfighters, near the end of the season.

Story	Serial	Title	Directed by	Written by	Original air date	Prod. code	UK viewers (millions)	AI
18	1	Galaxy 4 "Four Hundred Dawns" "Trap of Steel" "Air Lock" "The Exploding Planet"	Derek Martinus and Mervyn Pinfield	William Emms	11 September 1965 18 September 1965 25 September 1965 2 October 1965	T	9.0 9.5 11.3 9.9	56 55 54 53
Two ships have crashed after a space battle, but the planet they have landed on is about to be destroyed. The beautiful female Drahvins seem friendly, but in fact it is the ugly Rills that are more tolerant and forgiving.
19	2	"Mission to the Unknown"	Derek Martinus	Terry Nation	9 October 1965	T/A	8.3	54
Space agent Marc Cory is investigating the sighting of a Dalek ship and discovers they have a base on Kembel. But his crew are infected by Varga plants, imported from Skaro, and start to mutate into Vargas.
20	3	The Myth Makers "Temple of Secrets" "Small Prophet, Quick Return" "Death of a Spy" "Horse of Destruction"	Michael Leeston-Smith	Donald Cotton	16 October 1965 23 October 1965 30 October 1965 6 November 1965	U	8.3 8.1 8.7 8.3	48 51 49 52
The TARDIS lands outside Troy during the siege. The Doctor is captured by the Greeks and given two days to devise a plan for taking the city. Steven and Vicki are captured by the Trojans, and given two days to devise a means of banishing the Greeks.
21	4	The Daleks' Master Plan "The Nightmare Begins" "Day of Armageddon" "Devil's Planet" "The Traitors" "Counter Plot" "Coronas of the Sun" "The Feast of Steven" "Volcano" "Golden Death" "Escape Switch" "The Abandoned Planet" "Destruction of Time"	Douglas Camfield	Terry Nation and Dennis Spooner	13 November 1965 20 November 1965 27 November 1965 4 December 1965 11 December 1965 18 December 1965 25 December 1965 1 January 1966 8 January 1966 15 January 1966 22 January 1966 29 January 1966	V	9.1 9.8 10.3 9.5 9.9 9.1 7.9 9.6 9.2 9.5 9.8 8.6	54 52 52 51 53 56 39 49 52 50 49 57
Some six months after the events of "Mission to the Unknown", the TARDIS arrives on the planet Kembel, and the Doctor leaves the TARDIS to try to find medical aid for the wounded Steven Taylor leaving him with the Trojan girl Katarina.
22	5	The Massacre of St Bartholomew's Eve "War of God" "The Sea Beggar" "Priest of Death" "Bell of Doom"	Paddy Russell	John Lucarotti and Donald Tosh	5 February 1966 12 February 1966 19 February 1966 26 February 1966	W	8.0 6.0 5.9 5.8	52 52 49 53
The arrival of the TARDIS in Paris in 1572 places its occupants, the Doctor and Steven in a dangerous situation. Tensions between Protestants and Catholics are at fever pitch in the city.
23	6	The Ark "The Steel Sky" "The Plague" "The Return" "The Bomb"	Michael Imison	Paul Erickson and Lesley Scott	5 March 1966 12 March 1966 19 March 1966 26 March 1966	X	5.5 6.9 6.2 7.3	55 56 51 50
Ten million years into the future, the TARDIS materializes on a vast spacecraft called the Ark where the whole human race is bound for a new world.
24	7	The Celestial Toymaker "The Celestial Toyroom" "The Hall of Dolls" "The Dancing Floor" "The Final Test"	Bill Sellars	Brian Hayles and Donald Tosh	2 April 1966 9 April 1966 16 April 1966 23 April 1966	Y	8.0 8.0 9.4 7.8	48 49 44 43
The Doctor becomes invisible in the domain of the Toymaker, leaving Dodo and Steven incredulous. They step outside into a strange realm where the Doctor reappears, saying he recognizes the place they are in.
25	8	The Gunfighters "A Holiday for the Doctor" "Don't Shoot the Pianist" "Johnny Ringo" "The OK Corral"	Rex Tucker	Donald Cotton	30 April 1966 7 May 1966 14 May 1966 21 May 1966	Z	6.5 6.6 6.2 5.7	45 39 36 30
The Doctor gets his tooth pulled by Doc Holliday in Tombstone while Dodo and Steven literally sing for their lives. The travellers are caught up in the events leading up to the famous "Gunfight at the OK Corral".
26	9	The Savages (all episodes missing)	Christopher Barry	Ian Stuart Black	28 May 1966 4 June 1966 11 June 1966 18 June 1966	AA	4.8 5.6 5.0 4.5	48 49 48 48
The TARDIS materialises on a distant planet in the far future. The TARDIS crew find the planet inhabited by both the Elders and bands of roaming savages.
27	10	The War Machines	Michael Ferguson	Ian Stuart Black and Kit Pedler	25 June 1966 2 July 1966 9 July 1966 16 July 1966	BB	5.4 4.7 5.3 5.5	49 45 44 39
The TARDIS lands in London, in Fitzroy Square near the newly completed Post Office Tower. The Doctor meets an advanced revolutionary computer named WOTAN (Will Operating Thought ANalogue) who believes human are inferior to machines.

^† : Episode is missing

Season 4 (1966–1967)

Main article: Doctor Who (season 4)

The Smugglers and The Tenth Planet were the last serials to star the First Doctor, his regeneration to the Second occurring in the latter. It is also notable as the season with the most missing episodes, with not one serial existing in its entirety.

Story	Serial	Title	Directed by	Written by	Original air date	Prod. code	UK viewers (million)	AI
28	1	The Smugglers (all episodes missing)	Julia Smith	Brian Hayles	10 September 1966 17 September 1966 24 September 1966 1 October 1966	CC	4.3 4.9 4.2 4.5	47 45 43 43
The Doctor’s new companions Ben and Polly arrive with him in the TARDIS on the coast of seventeenth-century Cornwall, where a group of pirates are searching for treasure.
29	2	The Tenth Planet (episode 4 missing)	Derek Martinus	Kit Pedler and Gerry Davis	8 October 1966 15 October 1966 22 October 1966 29 October 1966	DD	5.5 6.4 7.6 7.5	50 48 48 47
The TARDIS crew arrive at the South Pole in the year 1986, near a South Pole tracking base. Soon afterwards, hostile cyborgs from Earth's twin planet Mondas, known as Cybermen, quickly take over the base, planning to convert every human being into Cybermen like themselves while the Doctor's old body is wearing a little bit thin.

Second Doctor

The Second Doctor was portrayed by Patrick Troughton, whose serials were more action-oriented than those of his predecessor. Additionally, after The Highlanders, stories moved away from the purely historical ones that featured during William Hartnell's tenure; instead, any historical tales also included a science fiction element. Patrick Troughton retained the role until the last episode of The War Games when members of the Doctor's race, the Time Lords, put him on trial for breaking the laws of time. The Doctor was forced to regenerate and thereafter exiled on Earth.

Season 4 (1966–1967) continued

This season introduced companions Jamie McCrimmon (Frazer Hines) and Victoria Waterfield (Deborah Watling), in The Highlanders and The Evil of the Daleks, respectively. Ben and Polly departed in The Faceless Ones.

Story	Serial	Title	Directed by	Written by	Original air date	Prod. code	UK viewers (million)	AI
30	3	The Power of the Daleks (all episodes missing)	Christopher Barry	David Whitaker and Dennis Spooner	5 November 1966 12 November 1966 19 November 1966 26 November 1966 3 December 1966 10 December 1966	EE	7.9 7.8 7.5 7.8 8.0 7.8	43 45 44 47 48 47
The newly regenerated Doctor, Ben and Polly soon arrive on the planet Vulcan, a human colony. There, the Doctor finds the humans claiming that the Daleks are their servants. But a more sinister plan is behind the Daleks.
31	4	The Highlanders (all episodes missing)	Hugh David	Elwyn Jones and Gerry Davis	17 December 1966 24 December 1966 31 December 1966 7 January 1967	FF	6.7 6.8 7.4 7.3	47 46 47 47
The TARDIS arrives after the Battle of Culloden in 1746, where the TARDIS crew encounter the McLaren Clan and their piper, Jamie McCrimmon. They learn of a plan to sell defeated Scots rebels into slavery.
32	5	The Underwater Menace (episodes 1 & 4 missing)	Julia Smith	Geoffrey Orme	14 January 1967 21 January 1967 28 January 1967 4 February 1967	GG	8.3 7.5 7.1 7.0	48 46 45 47
The TARDIS lands on a deserted volcanic island. The Doctor, Ben, Polly and Jamie are captured and taken in a lift down a shaft below the seabed, There they realise they are prisoners of the survivors of Atlantis, and that their High Priest, Lolem, declares they are to be sacrificed to the great god Amdo. Professor Zaroff arrives and has a plan to raise Atlantis from the sea.
33	6	The Moonbase (episodes 1 & 3 missing)	Morris Barry	Kit Pedler	11 February 1967 18 February 1967 25 February 1967 4 March 1967	HH	8.1 8.9 8.2 8.1	50 49 53 58
The TARDIS makes a bumpy landing on the Moon in the year 2070. When the TARDIS crew venture outside, they find a moonbase. Suddenly on the base, people start becoming seriously ill with symptoms of fever and delirium. The Doctor realises that their old enemies, the Cybermen, are stalking the moonbase and taking the patients' bodies. The leader of the moonbase gives the Doctor 24 hours to discover the cause of the virus, or else he leaves the Moon.
34	7	The Macra Terror (all episodes missing)	John Davies	Ian Stuart Black	11 March 1967 18 March 1967 25 March 1967 1 April 1967	JJ	8.0 7.9 8.5 8.4	50 48 52 49
The Doctor and his companions arrive at a planet in Earth's colonial future, where they discover that the inhabitants are being menaced by giant crabs called the Macra.
35	8	The Faceless Ones (episodes 2, 4, 5 & 6 missing)	Gerry Mill	David Ellis and Malcolm Hulke	8 April 1967 15 April 1967 22 April 1967 29 April 1967 6 May 1967 13 May 1967	KK	8.0 6.4 7.9 6.9 7.1 8.0	51 50 53 55 55 52
After the TARDIS lands on the runway at Gatwick Airport, Polly witness a murder, leading the Doctor to find out that aliens are stealing the identities of travelers.
36	9	The Evil of the Daleks (episodes 1, 3 - 7 missing)	Derek Martinus	David Whitaker	20 May 1967 27 May 1967 3 June 1967 10 June 1967 17 June 1967 24 June 1967 1 July 1967	LL	8.1 7.5 6.1 5.3 5.1 6.8 6.1	51 51 52 51 53 49 56
While trying to retrieve the TARDIS, the Doctor and Jamie are transported back in time to the 19th century by a professor working for the Daleks; the Daleks aim to use the Doctor's knowledge to give the Daleks human intelligence, but the plan backfires spectacularly.

Season 5 (1967–1968)

Main article: Doctor Who (season 5)

This season saw the departure of Watling as Victoria, and the debut appearance of Wendy Padbury as Zoe, and Nicholas Courtney as Colonel Lethbridge-Stewart.

Story	Serial	Title	Directed by	Written by	Original air date	Prod. code	UK viewers (millions)	AI
37	1	The Tomb of the Cybermen	Morris Barry	Kit Pedler and Gerry Davis	2 September 1967 9 September 1967 16 September 1967 23 September 1967	MM	6.0 6.4 7.2 7.4	53 52 49 50
On taking Victoria on her first trip away, the TARDIS crew arrives on Telos where they find an expedition excavating the tomb of the Cybermen. Inside the tomb, they find small metal creatures, traps and dozens frozen Cybermen who are soon to awake.
38	2	The Abominable Snowmen (Episodes 1, 3, 4, 5 & 6 missing)	Gerald Blake	Mervyn Haisman and Henry Lincoln	30 September 1967 7 October 1967 14 October 1967 21 October 1967 28 October 1967 4 November 1967	NN	6.3 6.0 7.1 7.1 7.2 7.4	50 52 51 50 51 52
The TARDIS crew arrive on a cold and windy hillside within the Himalayas. After exploring, the Doctor—wearing an extremely furry coat—is mistaken for what they think could be a Yeti. It turns out that the Yeti already roaming the mountains are robots created in hope for The Great Intelligence to reach material form.
39	3	The Ice Warriors (Episodes 2 & 3 missing)	Derek Martinus	Brian Hayles	11 November 1967 18 November 1967 25 November 1967 2 December 1967 9 December 1967 16 December 1967	OO	6.7 7.1 7.4 7.3 8.0 7.5	52 52 51 51 50 51
In the distant future, the crew at Brittanicus Base struggle to control an ioniser, which they are using to slow the progress of glaciers rolling over Britain. A creature found in the Ice is taken back to the base, once thawed it kidnaps Victoria and takes her to awaken his men from the glacier, they identify themselves as Ice Warriors from the planet Mars.
40	4	The Enemy of the World	Barry Letts	David Whitaker	23 December 1967 30 December 1967 6 January 1968 13 January 1968 20 January 1968 27 January 1968	PP	6.8 7.6 7.1 7.8 6.9 8.3	50 49 48 49 49 52
Arriving in Australia in 2018, The Doctor finds out he has an evil doppelgänger named Salamander, a Scientist and Politician, who plans to rule the world with volcanoes. Despite those who follow his ultimate reign, the Doctor impersonates him to gain full access to his research station and reveal him for who he really is.
41	5	The Web of Fear (Episode 3 missing)	Douglas Camfield	Mervyn Haisman and Henry Lincoln	3 February 1968 10 February 1968 17 February 1968 24 February 1968 2 March 1968 9 March 1968	QQ	7.2 6.8 7.0 8.4 8.0 8.3	54 53 51 53 55 55
Avoiding a web-like substance from space the Tardis lands in the London Underground. But when they find that the Yeit are suddenly now running the system, it's cause chaos for everyone, even the military. The Doctor, with the help of the military, tries to stop them invading the London Underground.
42	6	Fury from the Deep (All episodes missing)	Hugh David	Victor Pemberton	16 March 1968 23 March 1968 30 March 1968 6 April 1968 13 April 1968 20 April 1968	RR	8.2 7.9 7.7 6.6 5.9 6.9	55 55 56 56 56 57
The TARDIS lands in the North Sea off the eastern coast of England. The Second Doctor, Jamie, and Victoria investigate a nearby beach where there's something nasty in the pipes. A refinery base takes them prisoner and it's soon to reveal that a parasite had been sucked up from seaweed and is taking mind control of those who come in contact.
43	7	The Wheel in Space (Episodes 1, 2, 4 & 5 missing)	Tristan DeVere Cole	David Whitaker and Kit Pedler	27 April 1968 4 May 1968 11 May 1968 18 May 1968 25 May 1968 1 June 1968	SS	7.2 6.9 7.5 8.6 6.8 6.5	57 60 55 56 57 62
The Doctor and Jamie find themselves on a deserted spaceship carrying Cybermen heading for a nearby space station, The Wheel.

Season 6 (1968–1969)

Main article: Doctor Who (season 6)

Hines and Padbury both departed in The War Games, alongside Troughton. It was the show's last season to be filmed in black and white.

Story	Serial	Title	Directed by	Written by	Original air date	Prod. code	UK viewers (millions)	AI
44	1	The Dominators	Morris Barry	Norman Ashby (Mervyn Haisman and Henry Lincoln)	10 August 1968 17 August 1968 24 August 1968 31 August 1968 7 September 1968	TT	6.1 5.9 5.4 7.5 5.9	52 55 55 51 53
Arriving on an irradiated island, The Doctor, Jamie and new companion Zoe Heriot find an alien craft bearing the imperious and ruthless Dominators.
45	2	The Mind Robber	David Maloney	Peter Ling and Derrick Sherwin	14 September 1968 21 September 1968 28 September 1968 5 October 1968 12 October 1968	UU	6.6 6.5 7.2 7.3 6.7	51 49 53 56 49
By blowing a fluid link, the Doctor is forced to use the emergency unit to take the TARDIS away from danger and indeed out of reality itself: to the Land of Fiction. Here, he meets fictional characters, such as Rapunzel, Lemuel Gulliver and Medusa.
46	3	The Invasion (Episodes 1 & 4 missing)	Douglas Camfield	Derrick Sherwin and Kit Pedler	2 November 1968 9 November 1968 16 November 1968 23 November 1968 30 November 1968 7 December 1968 14 December 1968 21 December 1968	VV	7.3 7.1 7.1 6.4 6.7 6.5 7.2 7.0	55 53 54 51 52 56 55 53
After becoming invisible, the TARDIS arrives in England, 1975. While looking for a missing scientist at an electronics company, the TARDIS crew find out that the Cybermen are hidden within London's sewers and are planning an invasion.
47	4	The Krotons	David Maloney	Robert Holmes	28 December 1968 4 January 1969 11 January 1969 18 January 1969	WW	9.0 8.4 7.5 7.1	59 57 56 55
On an unnamed planet, a race called the Gonds are subject to the mysterious Krotons, unseen beings to whom they provide their brightest members as "companions".
48	5	The Seeds of Death	Michael Ferguson	Brian Hayles and Terrance Dicks	25 January 1969 1 February 1969 8 February 1969 15 February 1969 22 February 1969 1 March 1969	XX	6.6 6.8 7.5 7.1 7.6 7.7	57 59 55 55 57 59
Landing in the early 21st Century, The Doctor finds the human race has become reliant on a teleportation system known as T-Mat. The Ice Warriors are hiding on the Moon and planning to use T-Mat to destroy every living thing on Earth.
49	6	The Space Pirates (Episodes 1, 3 - 6 missing)	Michael Hart	Robert Holmes	8 March 1969 15 March 1969 22 March 1969 29 March 1969 5 April 1969 12 April 1969	YY	5.8 6.8 6.4 5.8 5.5 5.3	57 52 55 53 56 52
Space beacons on the space lanes are being blown up and plundered for precious argonite by a gang of space pirates led by Caven and his associate Dervish.
50	7	The War Games	David Maloney	Terrance Dicks and Malcolm Hulke	19 April 1969 26 April 1969 3 May 1969 10 May 1969 17 May 1969 24 May 1969 31 May 1969 7 June 1969 14 June 1969 21 June 1969	ZZ	5.5 6.3 5.1 5.7 5.1 4.2 4.9 3.5 4.1 5.0	55 54 53 50 53 53 53 53 57 58
Arriving in No Man's Land during World War I, the Doctor, Jamie and Zoe are sentenced to death for being enemy spies. They find out brainwashed soldiers are being abducted from Earth and forced to fight in simulated environments, reflecting the periods in history whence they were taken. The aliens' aim is to produce a super army from the survivors. The Doctor is forced to make a choice that will change who he is.

Third Doctor

The Third Doctor was portrayed by Jon Pertwee. Sentenced to exile on Earth and forcibly regenerated at the end of The War Games, the Doctor spent his time working for UNIT (United Nations Intelligence Taskforce). After The Three Doctors, the Time Lords repealed his exile; however, the Doctor still worked closely with UNIT from time to time. The Third Doctor regenerated into his fourth incarnation as a result of radiation poisoning in the last moments of Planet of the Spiders.

Season 7 (1970)

Main article: Doctor Who (season 7)

From this season onwards the programme was produced in colour. To accommodate the new production methods the number of episodes in a season was cut: season 6 has 44 episodes; season 7 has 25 episodes. The seasons continued to have between 20 and 28 episodes until season 22. This season featured companion Liz Shaw.

Story	Serial	Title	Directed by	Written by	Original air date	Prod. code	UK viewers (millions)	AI
51	1	Spearhead from Space	Derek Martinus	Robert Holmes	3 January 1970 10 January 1970 17 January 1970 24 January 1970	AAA	8.4 8.1 8.3 8.1	54 — — 57
The newly regenerated Doctor is exiled to Earth in the 20th century. At the same time, a swarm of meteorites fall in Oxley Woods. The Doctor has to devise a way to destroy the Autons before they replace the people of the earth with a plastic population.
52	2	Doctor Who and the Silurians	Timothy Combe	Malcolm Hulke	31 January 1970 7 February 1970 14 February 1970 21 February 1970 28 February 1970 7 March 1970 14 March 1970	BBB	8.8 7.3 7.5 8.2 7.5 7.2 7.5	58 58 57 60 58 57 58
Awoken from their sleep , creatures named as Silurians are lurking under a nuclear power research centre, driving people insane. A cave exploration goes wrong and a plan to wipe out humans is brewing below
53	3	The Ambassadors of Death	Michael Ferguson	David Whitaker, Trevor Ray and Malcolm Hulke	21 March 1970 28 March 1970 4 April 1970 11 April 1970 18 April 1970 25 April 1970 2 May 1970	CCC	7.1 7.6 8.0 9.3 7.1 6.9 6.4	60 61 59 58 — 61 62
The British space programme oversees the launch of the Recovery Seven probe that has been sent to Mars to make contact with the missing Mars Probe Seven and its two astronauts, who lost contact with Earth eight months earlier. Van Lyden makes contact with the Probe but is then silenced by a piercing unearthly sound.
54	4	Inferno	Douglas Camfield and Barry Letts	Don Houghton	9 May 1970 16 May 1970 23 May 1970 30 May 1970 6 June 1970 13 June 1970 20 June 1970	DDD	5.7 5.9 4.8 6.0 5.4 6.7 5.5	61 61 60 60 — 58 60
Inferno is the nickname given to a project to penetrate the Earth's crust. The project, however, has its own problems and the Doctor is sent to an alternate universe.

Season 8 (1971)

Main article: Doctor Who (season 8)

This season forms a loose arc with the introduction of the Master, the villain in each of the season's storylines, and introduces the companion Jo Grant portrayed by Katy Manning.

Story	Serial	Title	Directed by	Written by	Original air date	Prod. code	UK viewers (millions)	AI
55	1	Terror of the Autons	Barry Letts	Robert Holmes	2 January 1971 9 January 1971 16 January 1971 23 January 1971	EEE	7.3 8.0 8.1 8.4	—
The Master arrives on Earth and makes an alliance with the Autons to conquer the planet.
56	2	The Mind of Evil	Timothy Combe	Don Houghton	30 January 1971 6 February 1971 13 February 1971 20 February 1971 27 February 1971 6 March 1971	FFF	6.1 8.8 7.5 7.4 7.6 7.3	—
The Master creates the Keller Machine, a device that appears to rehabilitate prisoners, but instead kills them.
57	3	The Claws of Axos	Michael Ferguson	Bob Baker and Dave Martin	13 March 1971 20 March 1971 27 March 1971 3 April 1971	GGG	7.3 8.0 6.4 7.8	—
The Axons land on Earth supposedly peacefully, even offering a new energy source. However, that is not their real purpose.
58	4	Colony in Space	Michael E. Briant	Malcolm Hulke	10 April 1971 17 April 1971 24 April 1971 1 May 1971 8 May 1971 15 May 1971	HHH	7.6 8.5 9.5 8.1 8.8 8.7	—
On his first trip to another planet since his regeneration, the Doctor and Jo travel to Uxaerius, where they find that its colonists are struggling to survive.
59	5	The Dæmons	Christopher Barry	Guy Leopold (Robert Sloman and Barry Letts)	22 May 1971 29 May 1971 5 June 1971 12 June 1971 19 June 1971	JJJ	9.2 8.0 8.1 8.1 8.3	—
The Master summons Azal to assist him in an incident that happened at an archaeological dig at Devil's End.

Season 9 (1972)

Main article: Doctor Who (season 9)

Story	Serial	Title	Directed by	Written by	Original air date	Prod. code	UK viewers (millions)	AI
60	1	Day of the Daleks	Paul Bernard	Louis Marks	1 January 1972 8 January 1972 15 January 1972 22 January 1972	KKK	9.8 10.4 9.1 9.1	—
Rebels from a future Earth conquered by the Daleks travel to the 20th Century to change the course of history.
61	2	The Curse of Peladon	Lennie Mayne	Brian Hayles	29 January 1972 5 February 1972 12 February 1972 19 February 1972	MMM	10.3 11.0 7.8 8.4	—
The Doctor and Jo land on the planet Peladon, where they have to contend with an ancient royal curse.
62	3	The Sea Devils	Michael E. Briant	Malcolm Hulke	26 February 1972 4 March 1972 11 March 1972 18 March 1972 25 March 1972 1 April 1972	LLL	6.4 9.7 8.3 7.8 8.3 8.5	—
The Third Doctor and Jo visit the Master in his island prison and encounter the Sea Devils, cousins of the Silurians.
63	4	The Mutants	Christopher Barry	Bob Baker and Dave Martin	8 April 1972 15 April 1972 22 April 1972 29 April 1972 6 May 1972 13 May 1972	NNN	9.1 7.8 7.9 7.5 7.9 6.5	—
On the colony world of Solos, something is transforming the solonian population, turning them into hideous mutants
64	5	The Time Monster	Paul Bernard	Robert Sloman and Barry Letts	20 May 1972 27 May 1972 3 June 1972 10 June 1972 17 June 1972 24 June 1972	OOO	7.6 7.4 8.1 7.6 6.0 7.6	—
The Third Doctor and Jo investigate the workings of the TOMTIT machine, and what secret power is locked within the crystal of Kronos?

Season 10 (1972–1973)

Main article: Doctor Who (season 10)

This season marked the final appearance of companion Jo Grant and the end of the Doctor's exile on Earth.

Story	Serial	Title	Directed by	Written by	Original air date	Prod. code	UK viewers (millions)	AI
65	1	The Three Doctors	Lennie Mayne	Bob Baker and Dave Martin	30 December 1972 6 January 1973 13 January 1973 20 January 1973	RRR	9.6 10.8 8.8 11.9	—
Gallifrey, home planet of the Time Lords is under siege, by an unknown force. The only person who can help them is the Doctor, but even he will need assistance from his previous incarnations.
66	2	Carnival of Monsters	Barry Letts	Robert Holmes	27 January 1973 3 February 1973 10 February 1973 17 February 1973	PPP	9.5 9.0 9.0 9.2	—
The TARDIS materialises on the SS Bernice, a ship that suddenly disappeared while travelling the Indian Ocean.
67	3	Frontier in Space	Paul Bernard	Malcolm Hulke	24 February 1973 3 March 1973 10 March 1973 17 March 1973 24 March 1973 31 March 1973	QQQ	9.1 7.8 7.5 7.1 7.7 8.9	—
Materialising on an Earth cargo spaceship, the Doctor is caught up in the tensions between the Earth and Draconian Empires.
68	4	Planet of the Daleks	David Maloney	Terry Nation	7 April 1973 14 April 1973 21 April 1973 28 April 1973 5 May 1973 12 May 1973	SSS	11.0 10.7 10.1 8.3 9.7 8.5	—
The Time Lords have landed the TARDIS on the planet Spiridon, where the Daleks are awakening the biggest Dalek army the galaxy has ever seen.
69	5	The Green Death	Michael E. Briant	Robert Sloman and Barry Letts	19 May 1973 26 May 1973 2 June 1973 9 June 1973 16 June 1973 23 June 1973	TTT	9.2 7.2 7.8 6.8 8.3 7.0	—
Mutated giant maggots are appearing all over the Welsh countryside, could Global Chemicals be behind it?

Season 11 (1973–1974)

Main article: Doctor Who (season 11)

This season introduces the companion Sarah Jane Smith portrayed by Elisabeth Sladen.

Story	Serial	Title	Directed by	Written by	Original air date	Prod. code	UK viewers (millions)	AI
70	1	The Time Warrior	Alan Bromly	Robert Holmes	15 December 1973 22 December 1973 29 December 1973 5 January 1974	UUU	8.7 7.0 6.6 10.6	59 — — 60
In the Middle Ages, a rabble of criminals find the crashed spaceship of a Sontaran warrior. Meanwhile the Doctor is investigating the disappearance of several scientists from a top secret research complex.
71	2	Invasion of the Dinosaurs	Paddy Russell	Malcolm Hulke	12 January 1974 19 January 1974 26 January 1974 2 February 1974 9 February 1974 16 February 1974	WWW	11.0 10.1 11.0 9.0 9.0 7.5	62 — 63 — — 62
The Doctor and Sarah arrive in 1970s London to find that it has been evacuated due to the mysterious appearance of dinosaurs.
72	3	Death to the Daleks	Michael E. Briant	Terry Nation	23 February 1974 2 March 1974 9 March 1974 16 March 1974	XXX	8.1 9.5 10.5 9.5	61 — 61 62
Travelling through space, the TARDIS suffers an energy drain and crash-lands on the planet Exxilon.
73	4	The Monster of Peladon	Lennie Mayne	Brian Hayles	23 March 1974 30 March 1974 6 April 1974 13 April 1974 20 April 1974 27 April 1974	YYY	9.2 6.8 7.4 7.2 7.5 8.1	—
The Third Doctor returns to Peladon, where once again the sacred beast Aggedor casts its shadow.
74	5	Planet of the Spiders	Barry Letts	Robert Sloman and Barry Letts	4 May 1974 11 May 1974 18 May 1974 25 May 1974 1 June 1974 8 June 1974	ZZZ	10.1 8.9 8.8 8.2 9.2 8.9	58 60 57 — — 56
Mysterious goings-on at a meditation retreat run by Tibetan monks are linked to the blue planet Metebelis III, and a colony of monstrous, evolved spiders.

Fourth Doctor

The Fourth Doctor was portrayed by Tom Baker. He is, to date, the actor who has played the Doctor on television for the longest period of time, having held the role for seven seasons.

Season 12 (1974–1975)

Main article: Doctor Who (season 12)

All serials in this season continue directly one after the other, tracing one single problematic voyage of the TARDIS crew. Despite the continuity, each serial is considered its own standalone story. This season also introduced the character of Harry Sullivan portrayed by Ian Marter as a companion; this character was intended to undertake action scenes, during the period prior to Tom Baker being cast, when it was unclear how old the actor playing the new Doctor would be.

Story	Serial	Title	Directed by	Written by	Original air date	Prod. code	UK viewers (millions)	AI
75	1	Robot	Christopher Barry	Terrance Dicks	28 December 1974 4 January 1975 11 January 1975 18 January 1975	4A	10.8 10.7 10.1 9.0	53 53 — 51
With the newly regenerated Doctor, UNIT have to contend with the theft of the plans for the new disintegrator gun by what seems to be a mechanical monster.
76	2	The Ark in Space	Rodney Bennett	Robert Holmes	25 January 1975 1 February 1975 8 February 1975 15 February 1975	4C	9.4 13.6 11.2 10.2	—
The Doctor, Sarah, and Harry accidentally travel to Space Station Nerva in orbit around a far future Earth where they encounter an insectoid alien race known as the Wirrn.
77	3	The Sontaran Experiment	Rodney Bennett	Bob Baker and Dave Martin	22 February 1975 1 March 1975	4B	11.0 10.5	— 55
On a future Earth, the Fourth Doctor, Harry Sullivan, and Sarah Jane Smith discover Styre, a Sontaran warrior.
78	4	Genesis of the Daleks	David Maloney	Terry Nation	8 March 1975 15 March 1975 22 March 1975 29 March 1975 5 April 1975 12 April 1975	4E	10.7 10.5 8.5 8.8 9.8 9.1	— 57 — 58 57 56
Intercepted during a Transmat transfer, at the request of the Time Lords, the Doctor, Sarah, and Harry travel to Skaro just as the Daleks are being created where they try to change the history of the Daleks.
79	5	Revenge of the Cybermen	Michael E. Briant	Gerry Davis	19 April 1975 26 April 1975 3 May 1975 10 May 1975	4D	9.5 8.3 8.9 9.4	57 — — 58
The Doctor, Harry and Sarah find themselves on Space Station Nerva but millennia earlier when it was just a beacon for incoming and outgoing space ships, where a lethal infection is spreading through the crew.

Season 13 (1975–1976)

Main article: Doctor Who (season 13)

During this season, Ian Marter (Harry Sullivan) left after Terror of the Zygons, but returned for a guest appearance in The Android Invasion. Terror of the Zygons also saw the last semi-regular appearance of Nicholas Courtney (Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart) who did not return until Season 20 in Mawdryn Undead.

Story	Serial	Title	Directed by	Written by	Original air date	Prod. code	UK viewers (millions)	AI
80	1	Terror of the Zygons	Douglas Camfield	Robert Banks Stewart	30 August 1975 6 September 1975 13 September 1975 20 September 1975	4F	8.4 6.1 8.2 7.2	59 — 54 —
The Fourth Doctor is summoned to Earth by the Brigadier who is in Scotland investigating the mysterious loss of oilrigs.
81	2	Planet of Evil	David Maloney	Louis Marks	27 September 1975 4 October 1975 11 October 1975 18 October 1975	4H	10.4 9.9 9.1 10.1	— 56 57 54
An expedition is murdered. The Doctor lands on the planet at the same time as the expedition's rescue team, and is immediately taken prisoner as the suspected murderer.
82	3	Pyramids of Mars	Paddy Russell	Stephen Harris (Lewis Greifer and Robert Holmes)	25 October 1975 1 November 1975 8 November 1975 15 November 1975	4G	10.5 11.3 9.4 11.7	— — — 60
The TARDIS materialises inside a mansion in 1911, where cloth-wrapped mummies roam the grounds killing anyone in their path.
83	4	The Android Invasion	Barry Letts	Terry Nation	22 November 1975 29 November 1975 6 December 1975 13 December 1975	4J	11.9 11.3 12.1 11.4	58 — — —
The Doctor and Sarah find themselves in the English village of Devesham. But the village seems deserted, except for mysterious space-suited figures and their own doppelgangers.
84	5	The Brain of Morbius	Christopher Barry	Robin Bland (Terrance Dicks and Robert Holmes)	3 January 1976 10 January 1976 17 January 1976 24 January 1976	4K	9.5 9.3 10.1 10.2	— — 57 —
Years ago, the renegade Time Lord known as Morbius was executed. When the Fourth Doctor and Sarah arrive on the planet Karn, they discover that Dr Solon is creating a body so that Morbius may live again.
85	6	The Seeds of Doom	Douglas Camfield	Robert Banks Stewart	31 January 1976 7 February 1976 14 February 1976 21 February 1976 28 February 1976 6 March 1976	4L	11.4 11.4 10.3 11.1 9.9 11.5	59 — — — — —
Arctic explorers uncover two giant seedpods from another time and place. Ruthless plant-lover Harrison Chase decides he must have them for his rare collection, but the pods may spell the end of all non-plant life on Earth.

Season 14 (1976–1977)

Main article: Doctor Who (season 14)

Elisabeth Sladen (Sarah Jane Smith) left the series this season in The Hand of Fear and was replaced by Louise Jameson (Leela) in The Face of Evil . The season also saw the first story in which the Doctor did not have a companion, The Deadly Assassin.

Story	Serial	Title	Directed by	Written by	Original air date	Prod. code	UK viewers (millions)	AI
86	1	The Masque of Mandragora	Rodney Bennett	Louis Marks	4 September 1976 11 September 1976 18 September 1976 25 September 1976	4M	8.3 9.8 9.2 10.6	58 56 — 56
An encounter with the living energy structure known as the Mandragora Helix leads the TARDIS to 15th century Italy.
87	2	The Hand of Fear	Lennie Mayne	Bob Baker and Dave Martin	2 October 1976 9 October 1976 16 October 1976 23 October 1976	4N	10.5 10.2 11.1 12.0	— — 62 —
The Doctor and Sarah are caught in a mining explosion. Sarah is found clutching what appears to be a fossilised hand, buried in a 150-million-year-old stratum.
88	3	The Deadly Assassin	David Maloney	Robert Holmes	30 October 1976 6 November 1976 13 November 1976 20 November 1976	4P	11.8 12.1 13.0 11.8	— 59 — 61
The Doctor returns to his homeworld, Gallifrey. When the President of the High Council is assassinated, however, he becomes the prime suspect.
89	4	The Face of Evil	Pennant Roberts	Chris Boucher	1 January 1977 8 January 1977 15 January 1977 22 January 1977	4Q	10.7 11.1 11.3 11.7	61 — 59 60
The Doctor arrives on a planet where two tribes are at war and discovers that their god of evil is himself.
90	5	The Robots of Death	Michael E. Briant	Chris Boucher	29 January 1977 5 February 1977 12 February 1977 19 February 1977	4R	12.8 12.4 13.1 12.6	62 — — 57
A vessel is commanded by a crew of indolent or avaricious human staff. It is a happy partnership until the human crew start being murdered one by one.
91	6	The Talons of Weng-Chiang	David Maloney	Robert Holmes	26 February 1977 5 March 1977 12 March 1977 19 March 1977 26 March 1977 2 April 1977	4S	11.3 9.8 10.2 11.4 10.1 9.3	— — — 60 — 58
The Doctor and Leela travel to Victorian London where they encounter a sinister Chinese stage magician and his master, a fugitive from the 51st century.

Season 15 (1977–1978)

Main article: Doctor Who (season 15)

This season saw the final appearance of Leela and the first appearance of K9 as voiced by John Leeson.

Story	Serial	Title	Directed by	Written by	Original air date	Prod. code	UK viewers (millions)	AI
92	1	Horror of Fang Rock	Paddy Russell	Terrance Dicks	3 September 1977 10 September 1977 17 September 1977 24 September 1977	4V	6.8 7.1 9.8 9.9	58 — 60 57
Three lighthouse men face their fears when something comes in from the sea, which brings death to all it touches.
93	2	The Invisible Enemy	Derrick Goodwin	Bob Baker and Dave Martin	1 October 1977 8 October 1977 15 October 1977 22 October 1977	4T	8.6 7.3 7.5 8.3	— — — 60
A shuttle crew encounters a cloud in space that infects them with an intelligent virus. When the Doctor answers the distress call, he is infected as well.
94	3	Image of the Fendahl	George Spenton-Foster	Chris Boucher	29 October 1977 5 November 1977 12 November 1977 19 November 1977	4X	6.7 7.5 7.9 9.1	— — — 61
Scientists investigating an ancient skull unwittingly start to revive the Fendahl, an ancient life-form feared even by the Time Lords.
95	4	The Sun Makers	Pennant Roberts	Robert Holmes	26 November 1977 3 December 1977 10 December 1977 17 December 1977	4W	8.5 9.5 8.9 8.4	— — 68 59
In the far future, the planet Pluto is habitable, heated by several miniature suns. However, the heat is available only to the ruling classes.
96	5	Underworld	Norman Stewart	Bob Baker and Dave Martin	7 January 1978 14 January 1978 21 January 1978 28 January 1978	4Y	8.9 9.1 8.9 11.7	65 — — —
The remnants of the Minyans have an old link to the Time Lords. The Doctor must help them to find the hidden race banks that will save their dying race.
97	6	The Invasion of Time	Gerald Blake	David Agnew (Graham Williams and Anthony Read)	4 February 1978 11 February 1978 18 February 1978 25 February 1978 4 March 1978 11 March 1978	4Z	11.2 11.4 9.5 10.9 10.3 9.8	56 — — — — —
The Doctor returns to Gallifrey, having claimed the Presidency. He orders Leela expelled from the Capitol Citadel. However, the Doctor is doing this to prevent a Sontaran-instigated disaster.

Season 16 (1978–1979)

Main article: Doctor Who (season 16)

Season 16 consists of one long story arc encompassing six separate, linked stories. This season is referred to by the umbrella title The Key to Time and has been released on DVD under this title. This season introduced Mary Tamm as Romana I.

Story	Serial	Title	Directed by	Written by	Original air date	Prod. code	UK viewers (millions)	AI
098	1	The Ribos Operation	George Spenton-Foster	Robert Holmes	2 September 1978 9 September 1978 16 September 1978 23 September 1978	5A	8.3 8.1 7.9 8.2	59 — — 67
The Doctor is recruited by the White Guardian to seek the six segments of the Key to Time. The quest for the first segment takes them to Ribos, a medieval planet that galactic confidence trickster Garron is trying to sell to the Graff Vynda-K.
099	2	The Pirate Planet	Pennant Roberts	Douglas Adams	30 September 1978 7 October 1978 14 October 1978 21 October 1978	5B	9.1 7.4 8.2 8.4	61 — 64 64
The quest for the second segment takes them to the planet Zanak, which has been hollowed out and fitted with hyperspace engines, allowing its insane half-robot Captain to materialise it around other smaller planets and plunder their resources.
100	3	The Stones of Blood	Darrol Blake	David Fisher	28 October 1978 4 November 1978 11 November 1978 18 November 1978	5C	8.6 6.6 9.3 7.6	— — — 67
The quest for the third segment takes them to 1970s Earth, where the travellers have to contend with stone circles, Druidic rituals, and a not-so-mythical goddess known as the Cailleach.
101	4	The Androids of Tara	Michael Hayes	David Fisher	25 November 1978 2 December 1978 9 December 1978 16 December 1978	5D	9.5 10.1 8.9 9.0	— 65 — 66
The quest for the fourth segment takes them to the planet Tara. The Fourth Doctor and Romana find themselves embroiled in the political games of the planet Tara, where doubles, android or otherwise, complicate the coronation of Prince Reynart.
102	5	The Power of Kroll	Norman Stewart	Robert Holmes	23 December 1978 30 December 1978 6 January 1979 13 January 1979	5E	6.5 12.4 8.9 9.9	— — — 63
The quest for the fifth segment takes them to the third moon of Delta Magna, caught in the middle of a dispute between the crew of a methane refinery and the natives (known as 'Swampies').
103	6	The Armageddon Factor	Michael Hayes	Bob Baker and Dave Martin	20 January 1979 27 January 1979 3 February 1979 10 February 1979 17 February 1979 24 February 1979	5F	7.5 8.8 7.8 8.6 8.6 9.6	65 — — — — 66
The quest for the sixth and final segment takes them to Atrios, a world caught in a perpetual, stalemated war with its planetary neighbour Zeos. But the Black Guardian is closing in.

Season 17 (1979–1980)

Main article: Doctor Who (season 17)

During this season, the role of Romana was taken over by Lalla Ward.

Story	Serial	Title	Directed by	Written by	Original air date	Prod. code	UK viewers (millions)	AI
104	1	Destiny of the Daleks	Ken Grieve	Terry Nation	1 September 1979 8 September 1979 15 September 1979 22 September 1979	5J	13.0 12.7 13.8 14.4	67 — 63 64
The TARDIS lands the Fourth Doctor and Romana on a strangely familiar planet. There, they meet the android Movellans, who are locked in a war with the Daleks. The planet is Skaro, and in a bunker sits an enemy long thought dead — Davros, creator of the Daleks.
105	2	City of Death	Michael Hayes	David Agnew (Douglas Adams, Graham Williams and David Fisher)	29 September 1979 6 October 1979 13 October 1979 20 October 1979	5H	12.4 14.1 15.4 16.1	— 64 — 64
The Doctor is enjoying a holiday in Paris with Romana when, armed with several Mona Lisas, he uncovers an alien conspiracy that could result in the loss of all life on earth.
106	3	The Creature from the Pit	Christopher Barry	David Fisher	27 October 1979 3 November 1979 10 November 1979 17 November 1979	5G	9.3 10.8 10.2 9.6	— 67 — —
On the planet Chloris, the Doctor and Romana soon find themselves caught up in a long and secret enmity between the Lady Adrasta, who rules the planet in fear, and the mysterious Creature that she keeps in a Pit.
107	4	Nightmare of Eden	Alan Bromly	Bob Baker	24 November 1979 1 December 1979 8 December 1979 15 December 1979	5K	8.7 9.6 9.6 9.4	— — — 65
The TARDIS lands at the site of a hyperspatial collision between two spacecraft - as a result of which, neither ship is dimensionally stable, risking the lives of all those aboard.
108	5	The Horns of Nimon	Kenny McBain	Anthony Read	22 December 1979 29 December 1979 5 January 1980 12 January 1980	5L	6.0 8.8 9.8 10.4	— — — 67
After colliding with a spaceship, The Doctor, Romana and K-9 learn that young natives from a peaceful planet called Aneth are being transported into a great labyrinth called "The Power Complex".
—	6	Shada	Pennant Roberts	Douglas Adams	Unaired	5M	—	—
The story revolves around the lost planet Shada, on which the Time Lords built a prison for defeated would-be conquerors of the universe. Skagra, an up-and-coming would-be conqueror of the universe, needs the assistance of one of the prison's inmates, but finds that nobody knows where Shada is anymore except one aged Time Lord who has retired to Earth.

Season 18 (1980–1981)

Main article: Doctor Who (season 18)

In a return to the format of early seasons, virtually all serials from Seasons 18 through 20 are linked together, often running directly into each other. Season 18 forms a loose story arc dealing with the theme of entropy. Full Circle, State of Decay, and Warriors' Gate trace the Doctor's adventures in E-Space; they were released in both VHS and DVD boxsets with the umbrella title The E-Space Trilogy. This season saw the departure of Romana and the introduction of companions Adric and Nyssa, and soon-to-be companion, Tegan Jovanka.

Story	Serial	Title	Directed by	Written by	Original air date	Prod. code	UK viewers (millions)	AI
109	1	The Leisure Hive	Lovett Bickford	David Fisher	30 August 1980 6 September 1980 13 September 1980 20 September 1980	5N	5.9 5.0 5.0 4.5	— — — 65
Finding out-of-season Brighton beach somewhat lacking, the Doctor and Romana travel to the leisure planet Argolis - but there strange experiments are taking place. NOTE: The Randomiser is removed in this episode, which ends the Doctor's running from the Black Guardian.
110	2	Meglos	Terence Dudley	John Flanagan & Andrew McCulloch	27 September 1980 4 October 1980 11 October 1980 18 October 1980	5Q	5.0 4.2 4.7 4.7	61 64 — 63
On Tigella, two opposing factions are irrevocably divided over one fundamental issue: the Dodecahedron, a mysterious object which provides the entire planet's energy. Note: Gallifrey sends a summons to recall Romana at the end of the episode.
111	3	Full Circle	Peter Grimwade	Andrew Smith	25 October 1980 1 November 1980 8 November 1980 15 November 1980	5R	5.9 3.7 5.9 5.4	— — — 65
En route to Gallifrey to return Romana to the High Council of Time Lords, the TARDIS passes through a strange phenomenon (a CVE or Charged Vacuum Emboîtement) and ends up in an alternative universe called E-Space.
112	4	State of Decay	Peter Moffatt	Terrance Dicks	22 November 1980 29 November 1980 6 December 1980 13 December 1980	5P	5.8 5.3 4.4 5.4	— — — 69
After the events of Full Circle, the Doctor's adventures in E-Space continue with his arrival on a medieval planet. Villagers live under the thrall of three lords who dwell in a shadowy Tower.
113	5	Warriors' Gate	Paul Joyce & Graeme Harper	Stephen Gallagher	3 January 1981 10 January 1981 17 January 1981 24 January 1981	5S	7.1 6.7 8.3 7.8	59 — — 59
Time Winds strike the TARDIS, damaging it and K-9. Strangest of all, it allows Biroc, to enter, phased in time, sending the TARDIS into a milk-white void.
114	6	The Keeper of Traken	John Black	Johnny Byrne	31 January 1981 7 February 1981 14 February 1981 21 February 1981	5T	7.6 6.1 5.2 6.1	— — — 63
The Doctor and Adric arrive back in N-Space in an empire of peace and harmony. They are surprised when the elderly Keeper of Traken appears in the TARDIS to ask for their help in rescuing the Union from a secret evil growing in its midst.
115	7	Logopolis	Peter Grimwade	Christopher H. Bidmead	28 February 1981 7 March 1981 14 March 1981 21 March 1981	5V	7.7 7.7 5.8 6.1	— 61 — 65
The Doctor goes to Earth to take fresh measurements of a police box to repair the TARDIS. A figure in white observes. All the while, the Master lurks in the shadows, but what could he be planning?

Fifth Doctor

The Fifth Doctor was portrayed by Peter Davison.

Season 19 (1982)

Main article: Doctor Who (season 19)

The show moved from its traditional once-weekly Saturday broadcast to being broadcast twice-weekly primarily on Monday and Tuesday, although there were regional variations to the schedule. Castrovalva, together with the previous two serials, The Keeper of Traken and Logopolis, form a trilogy involving the return of the Master. They were released on DVD under the banner title New Beginnings. The season marked the final appearance of Adric.

Story	Serial	Title	Directed by	Written by	Original air date	Prod. code	UK viewers (millions)	AI
116	1	Castrovalva	Fiona Cumming	Christopher H. Bidmead	4 January 1982 5 January 1982 11 January 1982 12 January 1982	5Z	9.1 8.6 10.2 10.4	–
The newly regenerated Doctor is in a vulnerable state. His regeneration failing, the Doctor and his companions go to the city of Castrovalva to let him recover.
117	2	Four to Doomsday	John Black	Terence Dudley	18 January 1982 19 January 1982 25 January 1982 26 January 1982	5W	8.4 8.8 8.9 9.4	–
The Fifth Doctor, Nyssa, Tegan and Adric arrive on a spaceship which is headed for Earth. On board they meet natives of Earth from various eras.
118	3	Kinda	Peter Grimwade	Christopher Bailey	1 February 1982 2 February 1982 8 February 1982 9 February 1982	5Y	8.4 9.4 8.5 8.9	–
When Tegan sleeps near the Windchimes she is confronted by the true evil that threatens Deva Loka.
119	4	The Visitation	Peter Moffatt	Eric Saward	15 February 1982 16 February 1982 22 February 1982 23 February 1982	5X	9.1 9.3 9.9 10.1	–
The TARDIS arrives in 1666. Villainous creatures known as Terileptils are hatching an evil plan and the Doctor and his friends must stop them before the whole village is wiped out.
120	5	Black Orchid	Ron Jones	Terence Dudley	1 March 1982 2 March 1982	6A	9.9 10.1	–
At a masked ball at Cranleigh Hall a series of murders begins. The Doctor must uncover the secret the Cranleigh family is hiding from the world.
121	6	Earthshock	Peter Grimwade	Eric Saward	8 March 1982 9 March 1982 15 March 1982 16 March 1982	6B	9.1 8.8 9.8 9.6	–
The TARDIS drops the Fifth Doctor and his companions in the middle of an investigation into the murder of a team of scientists in a complex of caves. Deadly androids are patrolling the tunnels, but what are they protecting... and for whom are they working?
122	7	Time-Flight	Ron Jones	Peter Grimwade	22 March 1982 23 March 1982 29 March 1982 30 March 1982	6C	10.0 8.5 8.9 8.1	–
Missing Concordes lead the Fifth Doctor on a curious mission back in time where a deadly foe is seeking to seize control of the ancient powers of the Xeraphin.

Season 20 (1983)

Main article: Doctor Who (season 20)

To commemorate the twentieth season, the stories in this season involve the return of previous villains: Omega, the Mara, the Black Guardian and the Master. Mawdryn Undead, Terminus and Enlightenment involve the Black Guardian's plot to force the Doctor's new companion Vislor Turlough to kill the Doctor; they were released individually on VHS and as a set on DVD as parts of The Black Guardian Trilogy. This season was broadcast twice weekly on Tuesday and Wednesday evenings on BBC1. This was the last season to feature Nyssa as a companion.

Story	Serial	Title	Directed by	Written by	Original air date	Prod. code	UK viewers (millions)	AI
123	1	Arc of Infinity	Ron Jones	Johnny Byrne	3 January 1983 5 January 1983 11 January 1983 12 January 1983	6E	7.2 7.3 6.9 7.2	69 70 67 66
The Doctor is attacked by an anti-matter creature, which attempts to join with him genetically. Its intention is to bond with a Time Lord and cross over into this dimension through the Arc of Infinity — the gateway to all dimensions. The chosen Time Lord is the Doctor.
124	2	Snakedance	Fiona Cumming	Christopher Bailey	18 January 1983 19 January 1983 25 January 1983 26 January 1983	6D	6.7 7.7 6.6 7.4	65 66 67 67
The arrival of the TARDIS on Manussa triggers nightmares in Tegan, who dreams of a snake-shaped cave mouth. It is evident to the Fifth Doctor that the Mara is reasserting itself on her mind.
125	3	Mawdryn Undead	Peter Moffatt	Peter Grimwade	1 February 1983 2 February 1983 8 February 1983 9 February 1983	6F	6.5 7.5 7.4 7.7	67 70 67 68
The Doctor, Tegan and Nyssa, aboard the TARDIS, find themselves caught in the warp ellipse of a starliner that is trapped in time. They find a transmat capsule as the source of interference that is trapping the TARDIS, and are soon joined by Turlough. Turlough is contacted by the Black Guardian, who seeks to kill the Doctor, the Black Guardian offers Turlough passage off Earth if he eradicates the Doctor, to which Turlough agrees.
126	4	Terminus	Mary Ridge	Stephen Gallagher	15 February 1983 16 February 1983 22 February 1983 23 February 1983	6G	6.8 7.5 6.5 7.4	65 67 64 67
The TARDIS, to save itself, has materialized aboard a spaceship heading for an unknown destination. It becomes apparent that the spaceship is actually a transport carrying sufferers of a leprosy-like disease, to a space station named Terminus.
127	5	Enlightenment	Fiona Cumming	Barbara Clegg	1 March 1983 2 March 1983 8 March 1983 9 March 1983	6H	6.6 7.2 6.2 7.3	67 65 68 70
The Eternals sail through the universe, racing for the ultimate prize.
128	6	The King's Demons	Tony Virgo	Terence Dudley	15 March 1983 16 March 1983	6J	5.8 7.2	65 63
The Doctor discovers a shapeshifting robot posing as King John.
'
129	—	The Five Doctors	Peter Moffatt	Terrance Dicks	25 November 1983	6K	7.7	75
With the Fourth Doctor trapped in a vortex, the First, Second, Third and Fifth Doctors, plus various companions, must play the game of Rassilon to defeat an unlikely foe.

Season 21 (1984)

Main article: Doctor Who (season 21)

Episodes were broadcast twice weekly on Thursday and Friday evenings, with Resurrection of the Daleks broadcast on two consecutive Wednesday nights in 45-minute, rather than 25-minute, parts. The Caves of Androzani saw the regeneration of the Fifth Doctor, and the season finale The Twin Dilemma was the first story of the Sixth Doctor. The season marked the departure of Tegan Jovanka and Vislor Turlough, as well as the introduction of Nicola Bryant as Peri Brown.

Story	Serial	Title	Directed by	Written by	Original air date	Prod. code	UK viewers (million)	AI
130	1	Warriors of the Deep	Pennant Roberts	Johnny Byrne	5 January 1984 6 January 1984 12 January 1984 13 January 1984	6L	7.6 7.5 7.3 6.6	65 64 62 65
Two rival power blocs are locked in a cold war. Under the sea, old adversaries of the Doctor's awaken, ready to take advantage of the tension and reclaim the planet Earth
131	2	The Awakening	Michael Owen Morris	Eric Pringle	19 January 1984 20 January 1984	6M	7.9 6.6	65 63
The Doctor must also face the villagers of Little Hodcombe, who have been influenced by the Malus, and save Tegan before she is burned as the ill-fated Queen of the May.
132	3	Frontios	Ron Jones	Christopher H. Bidmead	26 January 1984 27 January 1984 2 February 1984 3 February 1984	6N	8.0 5.8 7.8 5.6	66 69 65 65
Its inhabitants having fled a dying Earth, the planet Frontios is mankind’s last colony and the location of hidden dangers
133	4	Resurrection of the Daleks	Matthew Robinson	Eric Saward	8 February 1984 15 February 1984	6P	7.3 8.0	69 65
Caught in a time corridor, the TARDIS gets dragged to Earth. At the other end of the corridor, a strike force plans the prison break of the man who created the ultimate evil.
134	5	Planet of Fire	Fiona Cumming	Peter Grimwade	23 February 1984 24 February 1984 1 March 1984 2 March 1984	6Q	7.4 6.1 7.4 7.0	—
The Fifth Doctor and Turlough are drawn to the planet Sarn by Kamelion, where they encounter the Master in one of his diabolical plans to tap the power of the Numismaton gas.
135	6	The Caves of Androzani	Graeme Harper	Robert Holmes	8 March 1984 9 March 1984 15 March 1984 16 March 1984	6R	6.9 6.6 7.8 7.8	65 — 65 68
On the planet of Androzani Minor, the Fifth Doctor and Peri get caught in the politics and dangers of mining spectrox, the most valuable substance in the universe.

Sixth Doctor

The Sixth Doctor was portrayed by Colin Baker.

Season 21 (1984) continued

Story	Serial	Title	Directed by	Written by	Original air date	Prod. code	UK viewers (million)	AI
136	7	The Twin Dilemma	Peter Moffatt	Anthony Steven	22 March 1984 23 March 1984 29 March 1984 30 March 1984	6S	7.6 7.4 7.0 6.3	61 66 59 67
In a post-regenerative crisis, the Sixth Doctor takes Peri to the desolate asteroid Titan 3 planning to stay there as a hermit for 1000 years.

Season 22 (1985)

Main article: Doctor Who (season 22)

The series moved back to once-weekly Saturday broadcasts. All episodes were 45 minutes long, though they also exist in 25-minute versions. Although there were now only 13 episodes in the season, the total running time remained approximately the same as in previous seasons since the episodes were almost twice as long.

Story	Serial	Title	Directed by	Written by	Original air date	Prod. code	UK viewers (millions)	AI
137	1	Attack of the Cybermen	Matthew Robinson	Paula Moore	5 January 1985 12 January 1985	6T	8.9 7.2	61 65
The Cybermen plot to hijack Halley's comet.
138	2	Vengeance on Varos	Ron Jones	Philip Martin	19 January 1985 26 January 1985	6V	7.2 7.0	63 65
The Doctor and Peri arrive on Varos, when they are pulled into a live torture show.
139	3	The Mark of the Rani	Sarah Hellings	Pip and Jane Baker	2 February 1985 9 February 1985	6X	6.3 7.3	64 64
The Master works with the Rani, who plans to take away a chemical that causes people to sleep.
140	4	The Two Doctors	Peter Moffatt	Robert Holmes	16 February 1985 23 February 1985 2 March 1985	6W	6.6 6.0 6.9	65 62 65
A Sontaran plot for mastery of time leads the Sixth Doctor to team up with the Second, in order to stop them and a duo of Androgums.
141	5	Timelash	Pennant Roberts	Glen McCoy	9 March 1985 16 March 1985	6Y	6.7 7.4	66 64
The people of Karfel are terrorised by the sinister Borad.
142	6	Revelation of the Daleks	Graeme Harper	Eric Saward	23 March 1985 30 March 1985	6Z	7.4 7.7	67 65
The Great Healer (Davros) has come up with a solution for famine. It involves dead bodies and Daleks.

Season 23 (1986)

Main article: Doctor Who (season 23)

The whole season is titled as The Trial of a Time Lord, and is split into four segments. The segments are commonly referred to by their respective novelisation's titles (listed below) but the season was broadcast as one fourteen-part story and these titles did not appear on screen. Episode length returned to 25 minutes, but with only fourteen episodes in the season, making the total running time of this season (and subsequent seasons) just over half of the previous seasons, going back to season 7. The season saw the departure of Peri and the introduction of Bonnie Langford as companion Mel Bush.

Story	Serial	Title	Directed by	Written by	Original air date	Prod. code	UK viewers (millions)	AI
143a	1	The Mysterious Planet	Nicholas Mallett	Robert Holmes	6 September 1986 13 September 1986 20 September 1986 27 September 1986	7A	4.9 4.9 3.9 3.7	72 69 70 72
The first episode begins with a motion-control special effect sequence depicting the Doctor's TARDIS being plucked out of time and space. The Sixth Doctor (Colin Baker) is charged with breaking the First Law of Time—a law forbidding interference in alien worlds—by the High Council of Gallifrey. In his prosecution, the Valeyard (Michael Jayston) presents the transgressions in the style of flashbacks on a video screen, depicting the Doctor’s past adventures with companion Peri Brown (Nicola Bryant). As the trial progresses, the Doctor becomes suspicious about evidence being censored and his TARDIS being bugged. In the first flashback presented by the Valeyard, the Doctor and Peri arrive on the tribal planet Ravolox, about two million years in the future. The Doctor notes a similarity between Ravolox and Earth, with objects from Earth − notably Marble Arch tube station and the novel Moby Dick − present on Ravolox. The only apparent astronomical difference between the two is Ravolox's position in the galaxy Meanwhile, rogue Sabalom Glitz (Tony Selby) attempts to obtain hidden secrets and advanced technology that are guarded by a robot. The Doctor is forced to deactivate the robot’s unstable power supply to avoid a chain reaction that threatens the universe, but in the process the secrets are destroyed. As he leaves Ravolox, the Doctor wonders why Earth appears to have been moved several million light years from its original position.
143b	2	Mindwarp	Ron Jones	Philip Martin	4 October 1986 11 October 1986 18 October 1986 25 October 1986	7B	4.8 4.6 5.1 5.0	71 69 66 72
The Valeyard presents his second piece of evidence, the Doctor and Peri's activities on Thoros Beta, immediately before the trial. The flashback shows the Doctor investigating arms sales, where he sees his old adversary Sil (Nabil Shaban). Sil's race, the Mentors, are revealed to have been supplying Yrcanos (Brian Blessed), the local king of a primitive culture, with advanced weaponry. Meanwhile, a scientist, Crozier (Patrick Ryecart), is preparing for surgery on Kiv (Christopher Ryan), an influential Mentor whose brain is expanding. The Doctor is portrayed as self-serving and unconcerned with Peri’s welfare during the flashback, as he appears to help Crozier and the Mentors by betraying Peri and Yrcanos. This uncharacteristic behaviour convinces the Doctor that the evidence has been altered. When the Doctor learns that Peri has been chosen as the new host for Kiv’s brain, he allies with Yrcanos to kill the Mentors. However, before he can attack he is captured by the High Council, resulting in Peri's death.
143c	3	Terror of the Vervoids	Chris Clough	Pip and Jane Baker	1 November 1986 8 November 1986 15 November 1986 22 November 1986	7C	5.2 4.6 5.3 5.3	66 69 69 69
The Doctor is allowed to present evidence in his defence. He chooses events from the future, in hopes that it will prove he has reformed. During the presentation, some details appear altered from what the Doctor reviewed, furthering his suspicions that evidence is being tampered with. In the year 2986, the Doctor and his new companion Mel (Bonnie Langford) answer a distress call from the interstellar ship Hyperion III. The ship is sabotaged and people are dying at the hands of the Vervoids, plant-like humanoids whom the Doctor learns were genetically engineered to be slaves. Although the Doctor and Mel are able to stop the Vervoids, he admits that none of the Vervoids survived the voyage. The Valeyard then charges the Doctor with genocide.
143d	4	The Ultimate Foe	Chris Clough	Robert Holmes Pip and Jane Baker	29 November 1986 6 December 1986	7C	4.4 5.6	69 69
The Doctor claims that the Matrix has been altered, and the Keeper of the Matrix (James Bree) is called. Seconds later, the Master (Anthony Ainley) appears on the Matrix’s screen, proving that it can be infiltrated. Sabalom Glitz and Mel are called as witnesses to the Doctor's defence, and they inform the Doctor of the Council's actions. The secrets Glitz sought had been stolen from the Time Lords, and Earth was ravaged and moved to preserve them. The Doctor was used as a scapegoat to hide the incident, and the Valeyard—an amalgam of the Doctor's evil personalities from between his 12th and final regeneration —was offered the Doctor's remaining regenerations. To ensure a guilty verdict from a neutral jury, the Valeyard falsified evidence. The Valeyard escapes to the Matrix, followed by the Doctor and Glitz. The Doctor's attempts to prevent the Valeyard from killing the High Council are stopped by the Master, who wants to dispose of the Doctor and seize power. The Doctor thwarts the Valeyard by causing the destruction of the Matrix archive. The Inquisitor (Lynda Bellingham) then clears the Doctor of all charges and offers him the Time Lord presidency, which he declines, suggesting that she run instead. After he leaves, she asks the Keeper of the Matrix to make repairs; the Keeper then turns to the camera, revealing his face to be that of the Valeyard.

Seventh Doctor

The Seventh Doctor was portrayed by Sylvester McCoy.

Season 24 (1987)

Main article: Doctor Who (season 24)

This season was moved to a Monday schedule. Mel Bush left in Dragonfire, and the companion role was taken over by Sophie Aldred as Ace.

Story	Serial	Title	Directed by	Written by	Original air date	Prod. code	UK viewers (millions)	AI
144	1	Time and the Rani	Andrew Morgan	Pip and Jane Baker	7 September 1987 14 September 1987 21 September 1987 28 September 1987	7D	5.1 4.2 4.3 4.9	58 63 57 59
The Rani has taken control of the planet Lakertya and forced the peaceful Lakertyans to build a rocket silo-cum-laboratory base into a cliff face. She is aided by the Tetraps, a race of bat-like creatures. To aid in her plans, she forces the Doctor's TARDIS to crash-land on the planet, initiating the Doctor's regeneration into his seventh incarnation. Can the Doctor get past his post-regenerative trauma and thwart the Rani once more?
145	2	Paradise Towers	Nicholas Mallett	Stephen Wyatt	5 October 1987 12 October 1987 19 October 1987 26 October 1987	7E	4.5 5.2 5.0 5.0	61 58 58 57
The Doctor takes Mel to the peaceful Paradise Towers for a trip. However, things are quite wrong; killer cleaners and the disembodied mind of architect in the basement pose a threat.
146	3	Delta and the Bannermen	Chris Clough	Malcolm Kohll	2 November 1987 9 November 1987 16 November 1987	7F	5.3 5.1 5.4	63 60 60
The Chimeron queen heads for a holiday camp in Wales after being a target for assassination. The Doctor and Mel run into Delta and decide to help her get rid of the Bannermen.
147	4	Dragonfire	Chris Clough	Ian Briggs	23 November 1987 30 November 1987 7 December 1987	7G	5.5 5.0 4.7	61 61 64
Kane has waited 3,000 years to escape his ice prison. However, the Doctor, Mel, Ace, and Glitz may have something to say about that.

Season 25 (1988–1989)

Main article: Doctor Who (season 25)

The series was moved to Wednesdays. The programme celebrated its 25th anniversary with the serial story Silver Nemesis.

Story	Serial	Title	Directed by	Written by	Original air date	Prod. code	UK viewers (millions)	AI
148	1	Remembrance of the Daleks	Andrew Morgan	Ben Aaronovitch	5 October 1988 12 October 1988 19 October 1988 26 October 1988	7H	5.5 5.8 5.1 5.0	68 69 70 72
The Doctor and Ace travel to London 1963, meeting Countermeasures, a team aimed at resolving threats, two rival fractions of Daleks after a powerful Time-Lord device known as the Hand of Omega, Davros, who wants to use the hand and a strange little girl from Coal Hill School.
149	2	The Happiness Patrol	Chris Clough	Graeme Curry	2 November 1988 9 November 1988 16 November 1988	7L	5.3 4.6 5.3	67 65 65
On the planet, Terra Alpha, where happiness is compulsory and sadness is against the law, the Kandyman, under the supervision of Helena A, makes a stream of molten Candy that kills those who dare to disobey it.
150	3	Silver Nemesis	Chris Clough	Kevin Clarke	23 November 1988 30 November 1988 7 December 1988	7K	6.1 5.2 5.2	71 70 70
The Doctor and Ace come across three rivals: the Cybermen, a 17th Century sorceress and a group of Nazis who are all hunting for a statue hidden in an asteroid which recently crash landed in Windsor wildlife park.
151	4	The Greatest Show in the Galaxy	Alan Wareing	Stephen Wyatt	14 December 1988 21 December 1988 28 December 1988 4 January 1989	7J	5.0 5.3 4.8 6.6	68 66 69 64
Trapped on the Planet Segonax, The Doctor's at the mercy of the entertainment-hungry Gods of Ragnarok who work in the dark at the Psychic Circus.

Season 26 (1989)

Main article: Doctor Who (season 26)

The final season continued to push the series towards a darker approach, focusing this time more on Ace's personal life as well as The Doctor's past and manipulations. This season set the tone for the Virgin New Adventures novels that followed.

Story	Serial	Title	Directed by	Written by	Original air date	Prod. code	UK viewers (millions)	AI
152	1	Battlefield	Michael Kerrigan	Ben Aaronovitch	6 September 1989 13 September 1989 20 September 1989 27 September 1989	7N	3.1 3.9 3.6 4.0	69 68 67 65
The Doctor and Ace join forces with UNIT and his old friend the Brigadier against Morgaine (Jean Marsh) and Mordred, Arthurian villains who recognize the Doctor as Merlin.
153	2	Ghost Light	Alan Wareing	Marc Platt	4 October 1989 11 October 1989 18 October 1989	7Q	4.2 4.0 4.0	68 68 64
The Doctor brings Ace to Gabriel Chase, an old house that she once burnt down in her home town of Perivale. However, trying to get Ace to accept her guilt is not the real reason the Doctor came here; a mysterious and highly mentally unstable being slays below them.
154	3	The Curse of Fenric	Nicholas Mallett	Ian Briggs	25 October 1989 1 November 1989 8 November 1989 15 November 1989	7M	4.3 4.0 4.0 4.2	67 68 68 68
It's 1943, and Fenric plans a last game of chess with a Time Lord. The Doctor also has a very important secret he's been keeping from Ace since they met.
155	4	Survival	Alan Wareing	Rona Munro	22 November 1989 29 November 1989 6 December 1989	7P	5.0 4.8 5.0	69 69 71
A visit to the suburbs of Ace's home town lands the Doctor and Ace on a planet of killer cats. Also, the Master's up to his old tricks once again, but what could he be after this time?

Eighth Doctor

The Eighth Doctor was portrayed by Paul McGann. The movie is the only television appearance of this Doctor during his tenure. The only production title held by this story was Doctor Who. The DVD release is titled Doctor Who: The Movie. In 2013, Paul McGann returned for the second television appearance of the Eighth Doctor in the minisode titled "The Night of the Doctor". Concerning the production code, "TVM" is used in the BBC's online episode guide. The actual code used during production is 50/LDX071Y/01X. Doctor Who Magazine's "Complete Eighth Doctor Special" gives the production code as #83705.

Television movie (1996)

Main article: Doctor Who (film)

For the Dalek movies with Peter Cushing, see Dr. Who (Dalek films).

156 – Doctor Who
Doctor Who television movie
1996 promotional poster
Cast
Doctor Paul McGann (Eighth Doctor) Sylvester McCoy (Seventh Doctor)
Companion Daphne Ashbrook (Grace Holloway)
Others Yee Jee Tso – Chang Lee Eric Roberts – The Master John Novak – Salinger Michael David Simms – Dr. Swift Eliza Roberts – Miranda Dave Hurtubise – Professor Wagg Dolores Drake – Curtis Catherine Lough – Wheeler William Sasso – Pete Joel Wirkkunen – Ted Jeremy Radick – Gareth Bill Croft – Motorcyclist Policeman Mi-Jung Lee – News Anchor Joanna Piros – News Anchor Dee Jay Jackson – Security Man Gordon Tipple – The Old Master
Production
Writer	Matthew Jacobs
Director	Geoffrey Sax
Script editor	None
Producer	Peter V. Ware Matthew Jacobs (co-producer)
Executive producer(s)	Philip David Segal Alex Beaton Jo Wright (for the BBC)
Incidental music composer	John Debney John Sponsler Louis Febre
Production code	50/LDX071Y/01X
Series	Television movie
Length	85 mins (UK) 89 mins (US)
Originally broadcast	12 May 1996 (Canada) 14 May 1996 (USA) 27 May 1996 (UK)
Chronology
← Preceded by Followed by → Survival (serial) Dimensions in Time (charity special) "Rose"

Doctor Who, also referred to as Doctor Who: The Movie to distinguish it from the television series of the same name, is a British-American-Canadian television film continuing the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. Developed as a co-production between BBC Worldwide, Universal Studios, 20th Century Fox and the American network Fox, the 1996 television film premiered on 12 May 1996 on CITV in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada (which was owned by WIC at the time before being acquired by Canwest Global in 2000), 15 days before its first showing in the United Kingdom on BBC One and two days before being broadcast in the United States on Fox. It was also shown in some countries for a limited time in cinemas.

The film was the first attempt to revive Doctor Who following its suspension in 1989. It was intended as a back-door pilot for a new American-produced Doctor Who TV series and introduced Paul McGann as the Eighth Doctor in his only televised appearance as the character until "The Night of the Doctor" in 2013. It also marks the final appearance of Sylvester McCoy as the Seventh Doctor and the only appearance of Daphne Ashbrook as companion Grace Holloway. Although a ratings success in the United Kingdom, the film did not fare well on American television and no series was commissioned. The series was later relaunched on the BBC in 2005. The only official Doctor Who episodes between the film and the new series were a 1999 spoof, Doctor Who and the Curse of Fatal Death, and a 2003 animation, Scream of the Shalka.

Although the film was primarily produced by different people than the 1963–89 series and intended for an American audience, the producers chose not to produce a "re-imagining" or "reboot" of the series but rather a continuation of the original narrative. The production was filmed in Vancouver, British Columbia, to date the only episode of Doctor Who filmed in Canada.

Plot

As the film opens, the Master has been tried on Skaro and found guilty of a "list of evil crimes". His death sentence at the hands of the Daleks has been carried out. His last wish was for his remains to be returned to Gallifrey by his archenemy, the Doctor, currently in his seventh incarnation.

During the trip back to Gallifrey in the Doctor's TARDIS, the Doctor is reading H. G. Wells' The Time Machine and listening to a torch singer on an old gramophone - which at one point skips on the word "Time" until thumped back into shape. The box containing the Master's remains shake violently and break open, allowing a sentient ooze to escape from it. The ooze enters the TARDIS controls and forces an emergency landing in Chinatown in San Francisco, California on 30 December 1999. As the Doctor steps from the TARDIS to find his bearings, he is shot by a gang who are chasing down Chang Lee, a young Chinese-American man. The Doctor manages to sputter out a few sentences to Lee, before fainting from pain. Lee calls for an ambulance, and the Doctor is rushed to a nearby hospital. The surgeons find, through X-rays, that the Doctor has two hearts, but they assume the X-ray image is a double exposure. They put The Doctor under pain drugs while they remove the bullets from his right shoulder and left leg before calling in a cardiologist. As cardiologist Dr Grace Holloway starts to operate with a cardiac probe, the Doctor wakes up, tries to prevent the operation by explaining his non-terrestrial origins and tells Grace he needs a beryllium atomic clock, but he is quickly put under anaesthetic and passes out once again. The Doctor's anatomy confuses Grace, who accidentally damages his circulatory system with a probe, killing him. The Doctor is declared dead, and his body is placed into a morgue. Lee steals the Doctor's possessions, including the TARDIS key, and runs off. Meanwhile, the ooze, which had stowed itself away on the ambulance, attacks and takes over the body of the ambulance driver, Bruce. When Bruce's wife comments on his change in behaviour the next morning, the Master, now controlling his body, murders her.

Late in the night, the Doctor comes back to life and regenerates into a new body before leaving the morgue in a state of confusion, donning parts of costumes intended for the New Year's party later that night. He follows Grace as she leaves the hospital, and convinces her that, though his appearance is different, he is the same man she operated on earlier when he pulls out the remains of a probe she had inserted during the surgery. Grace - who has resigned from her job at the hospital after the administration chose to cover up the botched surgery and destroy the Doctor's tell-tale X-rays - takes the Doctor home.

Meanwhile, Lee returns to the TARDIS with the key, and enters the time machine. The Master arrives soon afterwards and tells Lee that the Doctor stole the TARDIS from him, as well as his body, which he wants to retrieve. He convinces Lee to open the Eye of Harmony, which he is able to do thanks to his human retinal pattern. The Doctor recovers his memory and tries to keep his own eyes shut to prevent the Master from seeing through them. The Doctor also warns Grace that if they do not shut the Eye before midnight, the entire planet may be sucked into it, and that to close it, he needs an atomic clock. Grace disbelieves the Doctor initially, but when he demonstrates that the nature of reality is already changing by walking through her bay windows without breaking them, she agrees to take him to the unveiling of an atomic clock at the San Francisco Institute of Technological Advancement and Research. They are given a lift to the Institute in an ambulance driven by Lee and the Master, whom the Doctor does not yet recognize. However, when the Master removes his sunglasses, revealing non-human eyes, the Doctor and Grace abandon the ambulance and steal a police motorcycle, but not before the Master is able to shoot Grace's wrist with a strange, bile-like fluid from his mouth.

The Doctor and the Master in their climactic battle

At the Institute, the Doctor and Grace manage to collect the integrated circuit chip with the atomic clock mechanism by subterfuge, and make their way back to the TARDIS. Once there, the Doctor is able to install the chip and close the Eye, but discovers that the Eye has been open for too long, and that they must revert time to before the Eye was opened to prevent the destruction of the Earth. However, before the Doctor can route power to the TARDIS, the Master takes control of Grace using the bile which has infected her, and forces her to knock out the Doctor. The Doctor is chained above the Eye, his eyes forced open so as to allow the Master to take his remaining regenerations. When the Doctor awakes, he tries to talk Lee out of the Master's spell initially to no avail; however, when the Master lies to Lee in order to get him to open the Eye again, Lee refuses, causing the Master to kill him. The Master then releases his control of Grace, returning her eyes to human appearance, and then forces her to open the Eye. While the Master begins the process of transferring the Doctor's remaining regenerations to him, Grace is able to connect the last power circuit in the console room, sending the TARDIS into a time-holding pattern just moments after the turn of midnight, staving off destruction of the Earth. When Grace tries to return to help the Doctor, she is thrown over a balcony and killed by the Master, but her interference has given the Doctor enough time to push the Master into the Eye itself, apparently killing him. The action causes the Eye to close, and time to revert to a few moments before midnight, bringing both Grace and Lee back to life.

As the three recover, they find the world is safe. As Lee departs after returning the rest of the Doctor's possessions, the Doctor warns him not to be in San Francisco during next year's Christmas Day. The Doctor then asks Grace to travel with him in the TARDIS, but she politely refuses and also leaves. The Doctor returns to the TARDIS and pilots off to a new adventure. As he returns to the book he was reading before being forced to Earth, the gramophone skips at the same point, leading the Doctor to exclaim "Oh no, not again!"

Continuity

The Doctor

• Until 2013's "The Night of the Doctor", the television movie was Paul McGann's sole televised story as the Doctor. It has inspired an ongoing Doctor Who novel line, comic strip, and audio series that featured the Eighth Doctor for years, beyond the TV series' return in 2005. The Eighth Doctor was also featured in a series of BBC7 audio plays since 2007.
• The Seventh Doctor is seen wearing a different costume from the one he wore during his 1987–1989 tenure: gone are the question mark pullover and umbrella. The costume does include the original hat, which is actually owned by Sylvester McCoy.
• When reluctantly filling out an emergency medical treatment form, Chang Lee (who had only met the semi-conscious Seventh Doctor minutes earlier and did not know his identity) gives the Doctor's name as "John Smith", a recurring alias originally given to the Second Doctor by companion Jamie McCrimmon in The Wheel in Space.
• Much of the movie's plot rests on a revelation that the Doctor is half-human, "on [his] mother's side". Following the movie, several Eighth Doctor Adventures novels seek either to explain or elaborate on this premise, often with conflicting results. Alien Bodies suggests that only the Eighth Doctor is half-human, while Unnatural History and The Gallifrey Chronicles suggest that the Doctor was sired from a union of a Victorian lady called Penelope Gate and a Time Lord named Ulysses. The Taking of Planet 5 takes a different approach, suggesting that the Doctor slowly became half-human through repeated regeneration in close proximity to humans, causing the Doctor to absorb aspects of their DNA. Although the issue has yet to be explicitly revisited on-screen, in "Journey's End" a second version of the Doctor is created through a combination of the Doctor's and his human companion's physiologies; unimpressed with his half-human body, this new Doctor wonders how humans can manage with only one heart. In the 2008 Doctor Who comic book The Forgotten the Doctor states that, upon finding out that the Master had escaped from the box, he used the Chameleon Arch to deceive the Master with the fiction of being half-human.
• The Seventh Doctor's two hearts on the radiograph are seen but dismissed as a double-exposure. His newly regenerated third incarnation suffered the mistake in Spearhead From Space.
• The Eighth Doctor steals his first wardrobe from a hospital staff locker room, as had the Third Doctor and, later, the Eleventh Doctor.
• The Eighth Doctor examines a mask of Richard Nixon. The Third Doctor crossed paths with a Nixon waxwork figure in Spearhead From Space, and Nixon would be a significant supporting character in the Eleventh Doctor stories, "The Impossible Astronaut" & "Day of the Moon".

Daleks and the Master

• Although the Doctor's most famous alien adversaries, the Daleks, are not seen in the film, they are heard condemning the Master to death during the film's opening sequence (sporting their trademark war cry of "EXTERMINATE!").
• The Master tried to use the Eye of Harmony to obtain a new set of regenerations before, in The Deadly Assassin. He was also offered a new set of regenerations by the Time Lords in The Five Doctors, but his continued quest for regenerations in later stories like Planet of Fire implies that he never received them.

The TARDIS

• Although the TARDIS interior changed several times throughout the original series, the movie's set was the most dramatic change yet, replacing the sterile white corridors and "roundel"-based design with a steampunk theme reminiscent of Jules Verne. Several subsequent tie-in novels attempted to explain the change.
• This film introduces the idea of including Earth-centric elements on the TARDIS control console, such as an early 20th-Century automobile handbrake, apparently used for a similar purpose. This was used again in the 2005 and 2010 designs of the console.
• The Deadly Assassin (1976) established that the Eye of Harmony is held on Gallifrey; its inclusion on the TARDIS in the film conflicts with this.
• The film further states that the "Eye" can only be opened with the scan of a human retina, a fact apparently tied to the Doctor's own partially human retinal pattern.

References to other stories

• The book that the Doctor sits down to read at the beginning and the end of the movie is The Time Machine by H. G. Wells. The Doctor shared an adventure with Wells in the Sixth Doctor serial Timelash and would meet him again in the Tenth Doctor comic "The Time Machination". In 1973's Frontier in Space, the Master is seen reading Wells' The War of the Worlds. In the untelevised story Shada, Professor Chronotis can be seen with a copy of The Time Machine, which is later visible throughout the episode.
• This is one of six Doctor Who adventures to be set on New Year's Eve 1999 and New Year's Day 2000. The comic strip Plastic Millennium, published in the Doctor Who Magazine Winter 1994 Special; Craig Hinton's Virgin Missing Adventures novel Millennial Rites (October 1995); Justin Richards's Past Doctor Adventures novel Millennium Shock (May 1999), the Short Trips: Seven Deadly Sins story "Suitors, Inc." (2005) and the Fourth Doctor's segment from the comic The Forgotten (2008) all take place on those dates, as do elements of the Torchwood episode "Fragments".
• The "time tunnel" effect of the 2005 Doctor Who series onwards is reminiscent of the vortex that the TARDIS travels through in the opening credits and climax of the television movie which in itself is reminiscent of the vortex in the opening and closing sequences of 1974-1980.

Cast notes

• Yee Jee Tso would later return in 2002 to play Major Jal Brant in the Seventh Doctor audio drama Excelis Decays and Doctor Reece Goddard in the Sixth Doctor webcast Real Time.
• Daphne Ashbrook would later return in 2004 alongside Paul McGann's Eighth Doctor as Perfection in the audio drama The Next Life.
• Tso and Ashbrook returned to Big Finish together playing Captain Ruth Matheson and Warrant Officer Charlie Sato of UNIT in the audio dramas Tales From The Vault and Mastermind, both part of the Companions Chronicles series, in 2011 and 2013.

Production

See also: History of Doctor Who

Serial details by episode

Episode	Broadcast date	Run time	Viewers (in millions)
"Doctor Who"	12 May 1996 (1996-05-12) (Canada) 14 May 1996 (1996-05-14) (US) 27 May 1996 (1996-05-27) (UK)	89 mins 89 mins 85 mins	— 5.6 9.1

Pre-production

Producer Philip Segal had been trying for some years to launch a new American-produced series of Doctor Who, but the Fox Network — the only American network that showed any interest — was only prepared to commit to a single telemovie. It was hoped that, would the telemovie be successful, Fox might be persuaded to reconsider a series; however, the telemovie's ratings performance in America was not strong enough to hold Fox's interest.

The production budget for the movie (as revealed in the book Doctor Who: Regeneration) was US$5 million, with the Fox Network spending $2.5 million, BBC Television contributing $300,000, and the remaining $2.2 million split between BBC Worldwide and Universal Television.

Casting

Miranda, the wife of Bruce, is played by Eric Roberts' real-life wife, Eliza Roberts.

The producers of the television movie compiled several lists of actors to consider for the part of the Doctor. Among early thoughts were Michael Crawford, Tim Curry, Eric Idle, Billy Connolly, Trevor Eve, Michael Palin, Robert Lindsay, and Jonathan Pryce. All were uninterested in the project, or unavailable for the intended filming dates.

Casting sessions took place in March 1994; actors who actually auditioned for the role include Liam Cunningham, Mark McGann, Robert Lindsay, Tim McInnerny, Nathaniel Parker, Peter Woodward, John Sessions, Anthony Head, and Tony Slattery. Paul McGann was first considered around the time of these auditions, but did not formally audition for the part until later.

Among the actors who were invited to audition for the role of the Doctor but declined the opportunity were Christopher Eccleston and Peter Capaldi. Eccleston and Capaldi would go on to play the Ninth and Twelfth incarnations of the Doctor respectively in the revived series of Doctor Who which began in 2005. Eccleston turned down the offer to audition for the TV Movie because at the time he felt he was not yet an established enough actor and did not want to be associated with a "brand name" so early in his career. Capaldi declined because he felt it was unlikely that he would be given the part.

Liam Cunningham guest-starred in the Series 7 Episode, "Cold War" as Captain Zhukov.

Production

The movie was filmed on 35mm film in Vancouver, British Columbia, the first time any Doctor Who story had been filmed in North America (although the 1985 Sixth Doctor story The Two Doctors was originally planned for New Orleans). It is, to date, the only Doctor Who production to be entirely mounted outside of the UK (whereas all other episodes shot on foreign soil included at least some studio taping in the UK). Until the 2011 Eleventh Doctor stories "The Impossible Astronaut" and "Day of the Moon", the film was the only story to have principal photography in North America, followed by the 2012 story "The Angels Take Manhattan".

In the 2005 Doctor Who Confidential episode "Weird Science", and on the DVD commentary, Sylvester McCoy reveals that during the sequence where he locks the casket with his sonic screwdriver, he held the tool pointing the wrong way around (although in the original series, it is seen being used both ways). The sonic screwdriver was blurred in post-production to conceal the error. This is also the only time the Seventh Doctor was seen using a sonic screwdriver.

Writer Matthew Jacobs's father, Anthony Jacobs, played the role of Doc Holliday in the 1966 First Doctor serial The Gunfighters; the young Matthew remembered visiting the studio during production.

Post-production

The opening pre-credits sequence went through a number of modifications, with several different voice-overs recorded. At one stage the voice-over was to be made by the old Master, played by Gordon Tipple; in the end this was not used. Tipple is still credited as "The Old Master", though in the final edit his appearance is very brief, stationary, and mute. Had the original pre-titles voice-over been used, it would have been unclear what incarnation of the Doctor Sylvester McCoy portrays in the movie (as he is simply credited as "The Old Doctor"). Only the rewritten narration (as read by Paul McGann) makes his number of regenerations clear. The sequence of the TARDIS flying through the time vortex was briefly reused in the opening of Doctor Who and the Curse of Fatal Death, as the Master observes Rowan Atkinson's Doctor.

Instead of designing a new Doctor Who logo for this film, it was decided instead to use a modified version of the logo that was used for the Jon Pertwee era of the original series (with the exception of the final season). This logo, being the last logo used on an "official" Doctor Who broadcast before the 2005 revival, is to this day used by the BBC for most Doctor Who merchandise relating to the first eight Doctors.

John Debney was commissioned to write the score for this film, and intended to replace Ron Grainer's original theme with a new composition. Ultimately Debney did in fact use an arrangement of Grainer's music for the theme, although Grainer goes uncredited.

Alternative titles and labelling

There is some disagreement over exactly what the movie should be called. The production documentation only referred to the project as Doctor Who. Segal suggested the unofficial title Enemy Within as an alternative at Manopticon 5, apparently after being repeatedly asked what the actual title for the movie was. Both DVD releases are labelled Doctor Who: The Movie. The VHS release contains both the name Doctor Who and the phrase, The Sensational Feature Length Film (plausibly read as a subtitle). The most common fan usage appears to refer to it as "The Television Movie" or "TVM", or variations thereof.

Upon translation into French, this film was renamed Le Seigneur du Temps (literal translation: "The Lord of Time").

"TVM" is the production code used in the BBC's online episode guide. The actual code used during production is 50/LDX071Y/01X. Doctor Who Magazine's "Complete Eighth Doctor Special" gives the production code as #83705. Big Finish Productions uses the code 8A, and numbers its subsequent Eighth Doctor stories correspondingly.

Broadcast and reception

The movie debuted on the Edmonton, Alberta CITV-TV station on 12 May, two days prior to its Fox Network broadcast.

Commercials on the Fox network advertising the film used special effects footage from the 1986 story The Trial of a Time Lord, although this footage was not used in the movie. This marked the first time that footage from the original BBC series had been shown on a major American network. The advertisements also used a different arrangement of the Doctor Who theme music from that heard in the film.

The movie received disappointing US ratings. It received 5.6 million viewers, a total 9% share of the audience. However, when shown on BBC One in the United Kingdom on Monday 27 May at 8.30pm, thirteen days after its American broadcast, it received over 9 million viewers in the UK alone. It received a 75% Audience Appreciation score.

Third Doctor actor Jon Pertwee died a few days after the US broadcast of the film, and the UK broadcast included an epitaph to the actor. The UK broadcast was also edited for broadcast in a pre-Watershed timeslot, with around 1 minute of cuts made. The scenes where Chang Lee's friends are fired upon was cut because of the BBC's sensitivity about gun violence following the Dunblane massacre three months before. The operating room scene was also extensively cut, in particular shots involving the cardiac probe and the seventh Doctor's dying scream, and the shot of the Master breaking Chang Lee's neck was also removed.

Maureen Paton in the Daily Express praised the movie "At last we have a grown-up hi-tech Doctor Who in Paul McGann...only a low-tech Luddite would miss the endearing amateurism of the old teatime serial format...the makers would be mad not to pursue the option of a series." Matthew Bond of The Times, by contrast stated "If the series is to return it will need stronger scripts than this simplistic offering, which struggled to fill eighty-five minutes and laboured somewhat in its search for wit". The letters pages of The Radio Times were divided between viewers who liked and disliked the TVM.

Awards

The television movie won the 1996 Saturn Award for Best Television Presentation.

Commercial releases

Home media

File:Doctor Who 1996 film DVD cvr.jpeg

Official cover art of the TV movie's 2001 DVD release in the United Kingdom from BBC Video.

The movie was scheduled to be released on home video in the United Kingdom several weeks before broadcast to capitalize on the interest in the series returning. However, the British Board of Film Classification required the video release to have the same one minute of cuts as the broadcast version, and so the release was delayed to a week prior to its debut broadcast on BBC One. Hundreds of fans queued in London at midnight in order to buy a copy at the earliest possible moment, however overall sales were impacted by the now-imminent broadcast.

A Laserdisc release of the movie was released exclusively in Hong Kong by Universal in 1997.

The unedited version was released on DVD in the UK in 2001 titled as Doctor Who: The Movie, and was re-released in 2007 as a limited edition with an alternative cover sleeve (but with no change in content) as part of a series of classic series re-releases aimed at attracting fans of the revived series to the older shows.

Both the edited and unedited versions have also been released in countries such as Australia and New Zealand.

The 2010 DVD box set Revisitations contains the movie with a new, updated Special Edition DVD features. It included a new commentary with Paul McGann and Sylvester McCoy, an hour-long documentary on the time in between the film and the series' cancellation in 1989, a documentary on the 7 years it took to get the film made, a documentary on the 8th Doctor's comic strip adventures, a documentary on the media reaction the 8th Doctor, a documentary on the ties with Blue Peter and Doctor Who as well as all of the original features including the original commentary with Geoffrey Sax. On August 25, 2010, Dan Hall of 2entertain confirmed that this updated version would be released in North America sometime in the next twelve months following extensive negotiations with Universal Studios. Two months afterward, a North American DVD release date for the 2-disc Doctor Who: The Movie - Special Edition was announced to be February 8, 2011.

In 2013 it was released on DVD again as part of the "Doctor Who: The Doctors Revisited 5-8" box set, alongside the classic serials Earthshock, Vengeance on Varos, and Remembrance of the Daleks. Alongside a documentary on the Eighth Doctor, it also features an introduction from current show runner Stephen Moffat.

Soundtrack release

Doctor Who - Original Soundtrack Recording
File:Doctor Who 1996 soundtrack.jpg
Soundtrack album by John Debney
Released	1997
Genre	Soundtrack
Label	John Debney Productions
Producer	John Debney John Thaxton
Doctor Who soundtrack chronology
Music from the Tomb of the Cybermen (1997)Music from the Tomb of the Cybermen1997 Doctor Who: Original Soundtrack Recording (1997) Doctor Who: Terror of the Zygons (2000)Doctor Who: Terror of the Zygons2000

Music from the movie was on a promotional-only soundtrack album published by the composer, John Debney. Additional music was contributed by John Sponsler and Louis Febre. Although the composer of the Doctor Who Theme, Ron Grainer, did not receive screen credit for his composition in the TV movie broadcast, the CD finally attributes the proper credit on its cover. The entire score was re-released with previously unreleased cues as the eighth disc of the eleven disc Doctor Who: The 50th Anniversary Collection on 29 September 2014.

Track listing

All music composed by John Debney, except where noted.

No.	Title	Length
1.	"Prologue: Skaro" / "'DOCTOR WHO' Theme" (former composed by John Sponsler; latter composed by Ron Grainer)	1:38
2.	"Breakout" (composed by John Sponsler)	2:39
3.	"Wimps" / "Doctor #7 Is Shot" (former composed by John Sponsler; composed by Debney and John Sponsler)	1:44
4.	"Aftermath" (composed by Debney and John Sponsler)	1:09
5.	"X-Ray" / "Snake in the Bathroom" (former composed by John Sponsler; latter composed by Debney and John Sponsler)	1:28
6.	"'Who Am I?'" (composed by Louis Febre)	1:58
7.	"City Scape" (composed by Debney and John Sponsler)	1:07
8.	"Time" (composed by Debney and Louis Febre)	0:58
9.	"Primitive Wiring" / "The Unbruce" (former composed by Louis Febre; latter composed by Debney and Louis Febre)	1:40
10.	"Two Hearts" (composed by Debney and Louis Febre)	1:15
11.	"The Tardis" / "True Identity" (both composed by Debney and Louis Febre)	2:16
12.	"Night Walk" (composed by Debney and Louis Febre)	1:48
13.	"The Eye of Harmony" / "Half Human" (both composed by Louis Febre)	4:39
14.	"Until Midnight" / "Atomic Clock" (both composed by Louis Febre)	2:03
15.	"Green Eyes" (composed by John Sponsler)	0:48
16.	"The Chase" (composed by Debney and John Sponsler)	2:23
17.	"Beryllium Clock" / "Bragg's Key" (both composed by Louis Febre)	1:16
18.	"Slimed" (composed by Debney and Louis Febre)	2:08
19.	"Under the Influence" (composed by Louis Febre)	0:50
20.	"Crown of Nails" (composed by Debney and John Sponsler)	1:16
21.	"Lee's Last Chance" (composed by Debney and John Sponsler)	2:11
22.	"'Open The Eye'" (composed by Debney and John Sponsler)	2:29
23.	""Reroute Power!'" / "Temporal Orbit" (former composed by John Sponsler; latter composed by Debney and Louis Febre)	6:20
24.	"To Hold Death Back" (composed by Debney and Louis Febre)	1:48
25.	"Farewell" (composed by Debney and Louis Febre)	1:38
26.	"End Credits – "DOCTOR WHO" Theme" (composed by Ron Grainer)	0:50

CD credits

• Music Score produced by John Debney
• Executive album producers: John J. Alcantar III and Thomas C. Stewart
• Music Editor: Laurie Slomka
• CD Edited and mastered by James Nelson at Digital Outland
• CD Art direction: Mark Banning
• Front Cover concept: David Hirsch

• Special Thanks to Ryan K. Johnson

In print

The television movie was novelised by Gary Russell and published by BBC Books in May 1996. It was the first novelisation of a televised Doctor Who story to not be published by Target Books (or related companies) since Doctor Who and the Crusaders in 1965.

Basing the adaptation on an early draft of the script, Russell adjusted some details to make it more consistent with the original series, and the novelisation also contains elements that were cut from the shooting script for timing reasons.

• The novel begins with the Seventh Doctor receiving a telepathic summons from the Master (similar to The Deadly Assassin) to collect his remains from Skaro and a short prologue detailing how the Doctor escapes from the planet with the casket. This was originally intended to be a pre-credits sequence in the movie, and was subsequently contradicted by the ending of the novel Lungbarrow, where Romana gives the Seventh Doctor the assignment to retrieve the Master's remains.
• More detail is given to Chang Lee and Grace's backstory, including his recruitment into the Triads and his seeking a father figure as well as flashbacks to Grace's childhood.
• The Eighth Doctor finds the Seventh Doctor's clothing in the hospital rather than the Fourth Doctor's scarf. Also, the sequence where Chang Lee and the Master see the Seventh Doctor in the Eye of Harmony features all the previous Doctors as originally drafted.
• The scene where the Doctor and Grace meet the motorcycle police officer is relocated to a traffic jam on the Golden Gate Bridge (impossible to film in the movie since it was shot on location in Vancouver).
• When the Doctor first kisses Grace, he immediately pulls back, grins apologetically and murmurs, "I'm sorry, don't know what came over me there." This makes the romantic nature of the kiss more ambiguous. Instead of the second kiss at the end, he gives her the Seventh Doctor's straw hat as a memento.
• The Doctor is still referred to as half-human, to which the Master comments, "The Doctor once claimed to be more than just a Time Lord — He should really have said less than a Time Lord!" This was a reference to a line cut from Remembrance of the Daleks.
• Instead of dying and being brought back to life, Grace and Lee are merely rendered unconscious, though aware of what is happening around them. Russell also spends some time showing the Doctor and them discussing what a "temporal orbit" is.

The novelisation was the first Doctor Who novel published by BBC Books. The book was actually published prior to the conclusion of Virgin Books' contract for publishing original Doctor Who fiction, so the next release by BBC Books did not occur for about a year when the Eighth Doctor Adventures series began with The Eight Doctors. The novelisation was released as a standalone work and is not considered part of this series. The Eighth Doctor Adventures series ran until 2005 when it was discontinued.

In 1997, the novel was also released as an audio book, read by Paul McGann. This reading was later included on the 2004 MP3 CD Tales from the TARDIS Volume Two.

External links

• Doctor Who (1996) on TARDIS Data Core, an external wiki
• Doctor Who (1996) (TV) at IMDb
• The TV movie at BBC Online
• Doctor Who (1996) at Doctor Who: A Brief History of Time (Travel)
• Doctor Who (1996) at the Doctor Who Reference Guide

Reviews

• Doctor Who (1996) reviews at The Doctor Who Ratings Guide
• The Whoniverse's review on Doctor Who: The Enemy Within DVD

BBC novelisation

• Doctor Who (1996; novelisation) reviews at The Doctor Who Ratings Guide

See also

• Doctor Who missing episodes
• List of Doctor Who Christmas specials
• List of unmade Doctor Who serials and films
• List of Doctor Who audio releases
• List of Doctor Who home video releases
• List of Doctor Who audio plays by Big Finish
• List of Doctor Who radio stories
• List of special Doctor Who episodes
• Doctor Who spin-offs

External links

• BBC Classic Series Episode Guide
• BBC Episode Guide (Classic and New Series)
• Doctor Who Reference Guide – detailed descriptions of all televised episodes, plus spin-off audio, video, and literary works.
• Doctor Who (1963–1989) at IMDb
• Doctor Who (1996) at IMDb
• Doctor Who (2005–) at IMDb